Colleagues, the UK remains very concerned about the illegitimate Russian presence in portions of Georgia, thirteen years after the Russian military invasion.
We completely support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, and we emphasize the importance of a peaceful resolution based on full respect for the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and international law.
Since the 2008 war, when 20 percent of Georgian territory was essentially annexed, Georgia has been under constant hybrid attack from Russia.
Thousands of Russian troops and border guards are stationed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s breakaway territories, some as near as 35 minutes from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.
Furthermore, the human rights situation in these breakaway regions is grave and growing.
We applaud Georgia’s continued adherence to the EU-mediated ceasefire accord of August 12, 2008.
We urge the Russian Federation to immediately comply with the ceasefire agreement’s clear obligation to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions, as well as its commitments to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid delivery and not to obstruct the establishment of international security arrangements on the ground.
We further demand that Russia withdraw its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, as well as any other acts intended at annexing these territories to the Russian Federation.
We applaud Georgia’s efforts to promote reconciliation among the peoples separated by the Administrative Boundary lines, and we urge Russia not to disrupt these important peace-building and people-to-people connections.
The United Kingdom has long been a sponsor of this yearly resolution, which stands in solidarity with Georgians and all internally displaced persons around the world. As others have stated, it is even more relevant this year as a result of Russia’s unlawful and illegitimate invasion of Ukraine.
The resolution emphasizes the inalienable right of the forcibly displaced population to a safe and dignified return to their homes, recognizes their property rights, reaffirms the unacceptability of forced demographic changes, and establishes a critical mechanism for reporting on this issue by the UN Secretary-General.
All of these issues are critical to our global interest in human rights, reconciliation, and peace.
As a result, we urge all member states to support this resolution, which attempts to protect society’s most vulnerable citizens while also emphasizing the inacceptability of exploiting internally displaced people as political pawns in conflicts.
Thank you very much, comrades. Mr. President, thank you very much.