{"id":199,"date":"2014-05-23T16:51:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T16:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=199"},"modified":"2014-05-23T17:02:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T17:02:27","slug":"un-human-rights-chief-sums-up-georgia-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=199","title":{"rendered":"UN Human Rights Chief Sums Up Georgia Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Civil.ge \u2013 22 May 2014<\/em>
\n

\"UN<\/a>
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who visited Georgia this week, hailed country\u2019s \u201cwide-ranging\u201d and \u201cthorough\u201d human rights legislative reform, improved conditions in penitentiary, positive trends in the judiciary, but called for more oversight on law enforcement agencies and noted concerns over minority rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislation has been adopted, drafted or is planned in virtually all major areas where there are clear deficiencies, and I do not recall visiting any country during my six years in office where such a wide-ranging and thorough programme of human rights legislative reform has been launched in such a short space of time,\u201d she told journalists on May 21 and also stressed on importance of this legislation to be efficiently implemented.<\/p>\n

During the visit she met the President, Prime Minister, and other senior government officials, as well as parliament speaker, chairman of the Supreme Court, Public Defender, civil society representatives, and also visited a settlement of internally displaced person and administrative boundary line with breakaway South Ossetia.<\/p>\n

Judiciary, Penitentiary and Law Enforcement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking about judiciary, the UN human rights chief pointed at upward trend of acquittal rates, saying that it is now becoming \u201cmore realistic\u201d and judges have grown used to being \u201cmore independent both from the executive and from the prosecutors.\u201d She also said that the judiciary shows \u201ca greater inclination to demand that prosecutors properly justify their requests to place defendants in pre-trial detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that trials are seen to be fair, transparent and free from any hint of political retribution,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

On penitentiary system, she said that conditions in prisons, where \u201csystematic torture and ill-treatment were rife\u201d, have \u201csignificantly improved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of prisoners has been dramatically reduced; there is much better health care; and reports of ill-treatment in prisons are now rare \u2013 although occasional allegations still emerge,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

She called on the authorities to allow more non-governmental organizations to have access to the penitentiary for monitoring purposes in addition to already existing Public Defender\u2019s national preventive mechanism.<\/p>\n

The UN human rights chief also called on the authorities to establish an independent mechanism for investigating allegations of ill-treatment or other abuses in the penitentiary.<\/p>\n

She has also suggested setting up of an independent investigative body to look into allegations of abuse by the police and other law enforcement agencies \u201cto help remove the public\u2019s doubts and suspicions over allegations of abuse, such as those relating to the case of former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UN human rights chief has also called on the authorities to enact new rule of witness questioning, which was delayed till December 31, 2015, \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d Since many allegations relate to ill-treatment of detainees during their initial period in police custody, she said, it is particularly important that questioning takes place before a judge, \u201crather than hidden from the public view in police stations or prosecutors\u2019 offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authorities have cited need to prepare the law enforcement system for the new rule as the reason behind the delay of enacting these legislative amendments. The UN human rights chief urged the authorities to speed up the training of investigators so that the enactment of the new rule can be brought forward and put into practice.<\/p>\n

She also noted concerns about illegal surveillance and welcomed the Parliament\u2019s intention to pass with its first reading next week stricter legislative regulations to provide for more oversight on government\u2019s surveillance practice. But the proposed bill leaves unaddressed major issue in this respect related to continued direct access of Interior Ministry\u2019s to telecommunication service providers\u2019 networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that certain complex but key elements, such as regulating the relationship between law enforcement agencies and mobile phone companies, remain to be finalized,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

Minority Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UN human rights chief said that one of the issues that civil society representatives raised during a meeting with her was related to minority rights, in particular religious and ethnic groups, as well as of LGBT communities.<\/p>\n

She welcomed adoption of the anti-discrimination law, but also echoed concerns of local rights groups, who are calling for the need to make it more efficient, including extending some of its elements to also cover the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have urged senior Government officials to speak out strongly and consistently in public in support of tolerance, stressing the importance of avoiding discrimination against any group. All violence and hate speech must be loudly and unequivocally condemned by political and religious leaders, and perpetrators of crimes should be prosecuted,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that Georgia still has a long way to go on this issue was illustrated by the LGBT community here deeming it necessary to go into hiding on May 17 in order to avoid repetitions of violent attacks on them during previous May 17 events,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar resolution must be shown if the Government is to fulfill its commitment to improve the conditions facing religious and ethnic minorities, especially Georgia\u2019s large Muslim community,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

S.Ossetia – \u2018One of the Most Inaccessible Places on Earth\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UN human rights chief said that despite of \u201crepeated efforts\u201d her office has consistently been denied access to Georgia\u2019s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.<\/p>\n

She visited the village of Khurvaleti on the administrative border with South Ossetia, where local community has been divided by barbed wire fence installed by the Russian troops.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I saw for myself yesterday, the effect on local villagers on both sides of the wire fence is devastating,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

Pillay said that before her trip to Georgia, she met Russian ambassador in Geneva to \u201cexplain the purpose\u201d of this visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have every intention of following up on that meeting, particularly after I saw for myself how much the people of Georgia are suffering as a result of this wire fence,\u201d the UN human rights chief said and added that she would appeal the Russian side that human rights protection should be addressed.<\/p>\n

She said that while some movement is allowed in and out of Abkhazia, especially to the Gali district, including for some UN agencies, South Ossetia \u201chas become one of the most inaccessible places on earth, with no access permitted for international agencies, except the ICRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am particularly concerned about the human rights situation inside South Ossetia. Reports suggest that living conditions are poor and getting poorer, affecting economic, social and cultural rights,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Ossetia has become a black hole,\u201d she continued. \u201cVery little is known about what goes on inside the region, as it has grown increasingly difficult for South Ossetians to come to other parts of Georgia, as well as for IDPs to visit the one part of South Ossetia where some visits had been allowed. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, as things stand at present, the inhabitants of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not benefitting from the promise of significant human rights and rule of law reforms of the type that are currently being rolled out to Georgians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"NaviPillay_ImageUN-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pillay praises Georgia\u2019s plan to introduce comprehensive human rights reforms Opening remarks by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at a press conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, 21 May 2014<\/h2>\n

\u201cGood afternoon and thank you for coming.<\/p>\n

I have just come to the end of my first visit to Georgia, where I have found much that is encouraging in terms of ongoing reforms, and learned much that is both alarming and depressing about the situation affecting people displaced from, and living in, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia. I will return to this issue later.<\/p>\n

In Tbilisi, I held fruitful in-depth meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Internal Affairs as well as with the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons, Minister of Corrections and other senior Government officials. I also held discussions with the Chief Justice, the Chairman of the Parliament, Georgia\u2019s Public Defender and with civil society representatives.<\/p>\n

The Government, led by the Prime Minister, has embarked on a wide range of reforms in the area of human rights and rule of law. One of the most important of these has focused on depoliticizing a dysfunctional judiciary and law enforcement system. This is a major task that will take time to complete, but it is widely recognized that there is already some progress. Until recently, 99.9 percent of defendants were being convicted in the criminal court. The acquittal rate is now starting to get more realistic, as the judges grow used to being more independent both from the Executive and from the prosecutors, for example by showing a greater inclination to demand that prosecutors properly justify their requests to place defendants in pre-trial detention.<\/p>\n

The Government recognizes there is still a lot of work to do, not least in the area of training investigators, prosecutors and judges. Georgia\u2019s free media can play an important role in highlighting miscarriages of justice and scrutinizing the progress of judicial reform, as no doubt will the country\u2019s vibrant civil society organizations, which are well developed and making a very important contribution to the country\u2019s reform programme. It is essential that trials are seen to be fair, transparent and free from any hint of political retribution.<\/p>\n

An extraordinarily high number of criminal cases are still being resolved by plea-bargaining. The plea-bargaining system \u2013 coupled with the previous virtual certainty of being convicted if their cases came to court \u2013 has at times meant innocent defendants have been left with no option but to pay exorbitant fines demanded by the prosecutors, with minimal involvement of judges \u2013 a form of officially sanctioned extortion, that led to people losing their homes and businesses.<\/p>\n

I urge the Chief Justice, and all judges, prosecutors and employees of the law enforcement agencies, to cooperate fully with the judicial reform process.<\/p>\n

Conditions in Georgia\u2019s appallingly overcrowded prisons, where systematic torture and ill-treatment were rife, have significantly improved. The number of prisoners has been dramatically reduced; there is much better health care; and reports of ill-treatment in prisons are now rare \u2013 although occasional allegations still emerge. I have urged the authorities to maintain this momentum, and to consider allowing more NGOs to have access in addition to the National Preventive Mechanism. I have also urged the setting up of an independent mechanism for investigating future allegations of ill-treatment or other abuses, as defined by the National Human Rights Action Plan due to be adopted later this year.<\/p>\n

Similarly, I have also suggested an independent investigative body to look into allegations of abuse by the police and other law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

According to the Minister of Interior, eight police officers have been prosecuted over the past two months. However, an independent body would help remove the public\u2019s doubts and suspicions over allegations of abuse, such as those relating to the case of former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili.<\/p>\n

Since many allegations relate to ill-treatment of detainees during their initial period in police custody, I believe it is particularly important that the new amendments to the existing legislation on witness questioning are enacted as soon as possible, so that questioning takes place before a judge, rather than hidden from the public view in police stations or prosecutors\u2019 offices. I urge the Government to speed up the training of investigators so that the enactment of these important amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code can be brought forward and put into practice.<\/p>\n

The issue of surveillance, including wire-taps and use of secret video recordings of people\u2019s private life by law enforcement personnel as a means of blackmail, is still a concern in Georgia, and I was very glad to hear that the new Government ordered the destruction of thousands of such video recordings. Nevertheless there is still a widespread belief that such recordings are continuing.<\/p>\n

The Chairman of the Parliament informed me that the drafting of the planned new surveillance law is now complete and it should undergo its first reading in Parliament next week. This is a very welcome development, although I understand that certain complex but key elements, such as regulating the relationship between law enforcement agencies and mobile phone companies, remain to be finalized.<\/p>\n

One issue that civil society organizations raised with me concerns the treatment of minorities \u2013 including in particular certain religious and ethnic groups, as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) communities. The recently adopted Law on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination is an important step forward, although I have recommended that the Government consider ways of extending it to cover the private sector.<\/p>\n

I have urged senior Government officials to speak out strongly and consistently in public in support of tolerance, stressing the importance of avoiding discrimination against any group. All violence and hate speech must be loudly and unequivocally condemned by political and religious leaders, and perpetrators of crimes should be prosecuted. No one should turn a blind eye to violence directed against people simply because of who they are. That Georgia still has a long way to go on this issue, was illustrated by the fact that the LGBT community here felt it necessary to go into hiding on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, in order to avoid repetitions of violent attacks on them during previous May 17 events.<\/p>\n

Similar resolution must be shown if the Government is to fulfil its commitment to improve the conditions facing religious and ethnic minorities, especially Georgia\u2019s large Muslim community. Many people, including a succession of Government ministers, stressed the importance of improved education, both for members of deprived communities \u2013 particularly those facing language difficulties \u2013 and of the majority to improve their understanding of the importance of equal treatment and tolerance for others. Some minorities are also suffering disproportionately from the extreme poverty affecting many rural areas.<\/p>\n

While I met several impressive women Ministers and senior officials during this visit, it is important that the number of women in decision-making roles including in Parliament, increases significantly. Likewise, it is essential that efforts to strengthen legal protection of women against sexual and domestic violence are maximized, since studies show worryingly permissive attitudes on both domestic violence and violence as a means of disciplining children.<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s National Human Rights Action Plan and National Human Rights Strategy, are landmark documents and incorporate many key standards laid down by the United Nations human rights mechanisms and the Council of Europe. Legislation has been adopted, drafted or is planned in virtually all major areas where there are clear deficiencies, and I do not recall visiting any country during my six years in office where such a wide-ranging and thorough programme of human rights legislative reform has been launched in such a short space of time.<\/p>\n

Of course, passing laws is one thing and effectively implementing them is another \u2013 which is why the 27 June signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union, which stimulated a number of legal reforms, must be seen (I quote the words of the Minister of Justice) \u201cas the moment when everything begins,\u201d rather than as an end in itself. Effective implementation will only be achieved if there is careful coordination across all relevant Ministries, and I was therefore encouraged to hear from the Prime Minister that an inter-ministerial Human Rights Committee has been set up under his supervision.
\nThe various UN human rights bodies, including my Office, will do their utmost to continue helping Georgia in these efforts..<\/p>\n

Now to move on to an issue that remains a huge and painful wound for all the country\u2019s citizens, namely the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region, or South Ossetia, Georgia. .<\/p>\n

In spite of repeated efforts and the urging of the UN Secretary-General,* my Office has consistently been denied access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. I myself have made efforts to visit, but once again access was denied.<\/p>\n

My visit yesterday to an IDP settlement, and to the Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia, has confirmed my view that more attention needs to be paid to the situation of human rights in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.<\/p>\n

Whereas some movement is allowed in and out of Abkhazia, especially to the Gali region, both for displaced people, returnees and for some UN agencies and other actors, South Ossetia has become one of the most inaccessible places on earth, with no access permitted for international agencies, except the ICRC.<\/p>\n

This isolation has been growing in recent months. Since May 2013, razor wire and other forms of fencing, as well as additional watch towers and other monitoring equipment, have been set up by Russian guards along a stretch of more than 50 kilometres of the Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia. This is further impeding the right to freedom of movement for IDPs, and the enjoyment of rights to property, water, health, education and access to religious and cultural sites. In recent weeks, two more villages have been cut off from South Ossetia by the expanding barrier.<\/p>\n

Civilians seeking to cross the Administrative Boundary Line are continuing to be unlawfully detained. Their detention may last for several days, and they are only freed on payment of substantial fines, often simply for attempting to visit their own property on the other side of the wire to harvest their crops, including the valuable local delicacy known as jonjoli, which for many is their sole source of income.<\/p>\n

As I saw for myself yesterday, the effect on local villagers on both sides of the wire is devastating. I heard how two brothers who have ended up on different sides can now only communicate by shouting across the wire, and risk detention if they get too close to it. I heard how one teenage boy in South Ossetia was detained simply for handing a cup of water to a friend on the other side. I talked across the razor wire to one very brave 80-year-old man, Davit Vanishvili, whose house is surrounded by the wire, and is suffering in many ways as a result. When his wife fell ill, he was unable to take her to the nearest hospital which is south of the ABL. He has been harassed and his grandson detained on several occasions because they persist in communicating across the wire.<\/p>\n

According to the government of Georgia, since 1 May, restrictions on IDPs wishing to visit their property in Akhalgori in South Ossetia have grown more demanding. Those who filed applications inside South Ossetia before 1 May, are for the most part still not sure if they will be allowed to enter again. Those who missed the 1 May deadline can no longer get through the checkpoint they need to traverse in order to lodge their application.<\/p>\n

In all, some 250,000 people remain internally displaced in Georgia, unable to return to their homes and lands \u2013 in the case of the 220,000 from Abkhazia, for more than 20 years. The Government, with the help of donors, has constructed good quality housing and established other essential facilities for many, though not yet all, of the IDPs, who also have unimpeded access to the labour market. However, the time has perhaps come to mainstream action in favour of IDPs into national and regional development programmes as most of their needs are the same, or very similar, to that of the non-displaced population.<\/p>\n

I am particularly concerned about the human rights situation inside South Ossetia. Reports suggest that living conditions are poor and getting poorer, affecting economic, social and cultural rights. South Ossetia has become a black hole: very little is known about what goes on inside the region, as it has grown increasingly difficult for South Ossetians to come to other parts of Georgia, as well as for IDPs to visit the one part of South Ossetia where some visits had been allowed. <\/p>\n

It is hard to see how this frozen, indeed worsening, situation is in anyone\u2019s interests. It is clearly affecting the human rights of many people \u2013 including the IDPs \u2013 and this is primarily the responsibility of the de facto authorities. My Office and other organizations would be willing to provide much more protection, if we were permitted to monitor the situation inside both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and to help provide legal remedies, especially for the most vulnerable people. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as things stand at present, the inhabitants of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not benefitting from the promise of significant human rights and rule of law reforms of the type that are currently being rolled out to Georgians, and which have been the prime focus of this mission. That is a matter of deep regret to me, and I hope for the sake of everyone that solutions to these hitherto intractable situations can be found.<\/p>\n

* See the Secretary-General\u2019s 20 May 2013 report (A\/67\/869), Status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region\/ South Ossetia, Georgia<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14624&LangID=E<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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