June 4, Pozirk. Belarus has voted against the UN General Assembly’s draft resolution recognizing the right of refugees and internally displaced persons to return to Georgia’s breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
According to a UN press release, a total of 107 countries supported the resolution with 55 abstentions and eight countries opposing it, namely, Belarus, Burundi, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Sudan.
The resolution condemns forced demographic changes in Russia-held regions of Georgia, affirming the rights of displaced persons, regardless of their ethnicity, to return to their homes in dignity and safety, and stresses the need to respect the property rights of all internally displaced persons and refugees affected by the conflicts in that country.
Georgia’s delegate, introducing that text, said he was speaking on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees who had been forcibly displaced from his country’s occupied regions.
“Let me be clear: This resolution is not directed against any party, nor does it seek to assign blame for the circumstances that led to the forced displacement,” he added. The text is “human-centered”, he said, and its main goal is to address the humanitarian plight of those who were forced to flee their homes during successive waves of ethnic cleansing, starting in the 1990s and culminating with the military aggression against Georgia in August 2008.
The UN votes on the resolution annually since 2008.
Back in 2008, Russia was involved in an armed conflict with Georgia and supported separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Belarus has not yet officially joined the small list of countries that recognize these breakaway regions as independent states.
In September 2022, following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Alaksandar Łukašenka visited Abkhazia without notifying Georgian authorities. He met with Abkhazia’s separatist ruler Aslan Bzhania, who visited Minsk a few months later.
Georgia’s authorities have criticized Belarus’ contacts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
But more recently, Minsk has been reaching out to Tbilisi to improve ties. Senior diplomats and officials have exchanged visits to discuss ways to boost economic and other ties.
