MATERIALS
OF THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
"THE MODERN WORLD AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF
GEORGIA"
(BATUMI, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 23-25, 2000)
From
many reports of international human rights organisations it is
made clear that in the last eight years there were continuous
violations of human rights in the Republic of Georgia. All basic
human rights, as described in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights of December 10, 1948, were violated in a more or less
serious degree. The present population of the Republic of Georgia is
estimated to be about 3,5 million people. More than a million
Georgians live in exile. For the estimated 3,5 million Georgians
who still live in their homeland, there is a police force of about
200.000 persons: one policeman or -woman for every 17,5
inhabitants. The members of this police force get a monthly salary
from 200 and more Lari (about US $ 100 and more), while the
largest part of the population has an average monthly income of
about 10-15 Lari (US $ 5-8). It means that a relative big part of
the state budget has to be spend to maintain this police force.
For a country which has a foreign debt of about US $ 1.485 billion
(as of October 1997), this is an enormous waste of money and makes
clear that the present government does not feel too secure of its
support among the population, in spite of election results that
try to show the opposite. When we speak about human rights in the Republic of
Georgia, then we have to make a division in different categories: 1. human rights in the
social field.
According to the
Universal Declaration everyone has the right to life (Article
3) and the right to a standard of living for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care [...] (Article 25). When we
look at the average income of the largest part of the
population in the Republic of Georgia, compared with the costs
of living, then we see that this income is far below the
poverty line, as accepted by international standards. To buy
the necessary food, to pay for housing, medical care and
education, a minimum income of at least 200 Lari (US $ 100)
should be necessary. The Republic of Georgia has received many
loans from different organisations like IMF, World Bank and
USAID, but it is unclear what has been done with this money.
The national debt of the Republic of Georgia weighs heavy upon
the population, especially because it has resulted in an
enormous rise in prices.
2. human rights in the
political field.
There are more
then 100 political prisoners in the Republic of Georgia. Their
cases have been manipulated and many prisoners were tortured
to get illegal confessions. The articles 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11
and 12 of the Universal Declaration are continuously violated
in the Republic of Georgia. According to Amnesty International
in its 1999©Report about Georgia 'there were numerous reports
of torture and ill-treatment in detention'. In the Ortachala
prison in Tbilisi three inmates have to share one bed, many
prisoners are seriously ill without necessary medical
treatment.
The Republic of
Georgia strives to be a member of the European Union. The present
government is presenting itself to the outside world as
democratic, but the contrary is true. There is no freedom of press
in the Republic of Georgia (Universal Declaration, Article 19) and
the repression against the population is strong. One can be
arbitrary arrested by police or special security forces, and
nobody takes responsibility for these arrests. Exhaustingly, all these
facts, all these violations of human rights and many more have
been described in numerous reports of various human rights
organisations. I have visited the Republic of Georgia in 1997 and
1998, and I have been the witness of human rights violations
myself. I even was almost arrested when I was a peaceful observer
of a manifestation in the centre of Tbilisi on the 26th of May,
1997. When
we look at the number of reports that have been published about
human rights violations in the Republic of Georgia, then we can
suppose that these facts are well known in the international
community. When human rights are violated anywhere in the world,
then we see reactions from the international community. Some
countries were punished by a boycott of trade, other countries
were deprived of any international help, some countries were even
invaded or bombed. But in the case of the Republic of Georgia the
international community remained deathly silent. After the coup
d'etat of 1991-92 and the great repression that followed many
Georgians were forced to leave their country, but in various cases
they were not recognised as political refugees according to the
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (28 July 1951) and
the following Protocols (1967). Various governments simply did not
believe, or refused to recognise, that the popular former minister
of foreign affairs of the Soviet Union, generally known in the
West as a 'democrat' and 'advocate of perestrojka', had turned
into a cruel violator of human rights in his homeland, the
Republic of Georgia. When heads of state are planning official visits to
Beijing, then the human rights in the People's Republic of China
are always on the agenda. Some countries are still boycotted for
their real or supposed violations of human rights, but apparently
for the Republic of Georgia the international community handles a
different standard. In July 1999 the IMF agreed to a new loan to
the Republic of Georgia of US $ 115 million. The only condition
was that the 1999 state budget should be cut by 16 million Lari. Also in July 1999 the
Turkish military offered $ 3.7 million to assist the Georgian
Defence Ministry and border guards. In June 1999 they already gave
$ 1.7 million and in 1998 $ 5.5 million for the same purpose. In
these deals nobody spoke about human rights or violations,
although we also cannot say that Turkey is a great defender of
human rights itself. At the 6 October 1999 meeting of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) in Geneva was announced that the Republic of
Georgia has fulfilled all preconditions and that the WTO favours
the Georgian membership in the international organisation. On the 8th of November
1999 the head of the Roman-Catholic church, Pope John Paul II,
meets Shevardnadze in Tbilisi. Of course they did not speak about
human right in the Republic of Georgia. The United States of America are promoting
themselves as the defenders of human rights all over the world.
Still Clinton and Shevardnadze have good relations, and not once
has Clinton openly spoken about violations of human rights in the
Republic of Georgia. We also did not hear such kind of remarks
from the European Union or from any other part of the world.
There is an enormous gap between the theory of human rights on one
side, and the condemnation of violations of human rights on the
other side. When we look at the international policy of
condemnation of violations of human rights in different countries
in the world, then it is clear that these condemnations depend on
economic profits or the strategic position of a country. For
example, it is well known that in Karimov's Uzbekistan all human
rights are seriously violated. However this did not restrain
multinationals like Mercedes, Coca Cola and Daewoo to establish
large production plants in Uzbekistan, because as a result of
Karimov's dictatorship labour peace is guaranteed.
In the geopolitical situation in the Transcaucasus Georgia is a
wanted partner of the Western world. The fate of the Republic of
Georgia is that it has a strategic position in the world,
especially when we speak about Caspian oil and gas from
Turkmenistan. But also the present situation in the Russian
Federation urges the Western world to have closer ties with the
Republic of Georgia as a buffer between Russia and the West,
between Islamic fundamentalism from Iran and Turkey and the West
and as a spring board for future military sanctions against those
countries that really or supposedly are violating human rights.
Still the United States of America have the last word in this
issue and their policies towards different countries in the world
are paraphrased in George Orwell's classic words: 'All countries
are equal, but some are more equal than others'. And which
equality possesses the Republic of Georgia is obscured by the
interests of 'higher politics'. But this is no guarantee for
something as basically as human rights...
Bas van der Plas,
General secretary Netherlands Helsinki Union
MATERIALS OF THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS "THE MODERN WORLD
AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA" (BATUMI,
GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 23-25, 2000)
07-03-2000
Batumi 2000
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