Having returned from his fact-finding visit to Tbilisi, Georgia on 27 November 2017, Killion Munyama (Poland, EPP/CD) said:
“As rapporteur on the humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons, I noted the immense efforts achieved by the Georgian Government in providing housing, welfare and social integration for the hundreds of thousands of persons displaced from the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The protracted conflicts have caused huge human suffering among the ethnic Georgian population of those regions. While human contacts were possible across the military lines in the past, such contacts now face growing hurdles through the Russian border guards.”
He called on the EU and the United Nations to increase their action in order to ensure that the humanitarian situation of IDPs is improved and their human rights are respected by all parties to the conflict.
In Tbilisi, Mr Munyama met with members of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, the Senior Adviser on Human Rights Issues of IDPs, Office of the Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia, UNHCR; the Regional Protection Officer; members of the Temporary Commission on Territorial Integrity Issues of the Parliament of Georgia.
His report on “Addressing the humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons: recent lessons and future challenges in Europe” will be discussed by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons is scheduled for debate at the plenary session in Strasbourg in April 2018.
