Sixty-second session

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[without reference to a Main Committee (A/62/L.45)]

62/249. Status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia

The General Assembly,

Recalling its relevant resolutions on the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons, including its resolution 62/153 of 18 December 2007,

Recognizing the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement1 as an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons,

Deeply concerned about violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Abkhazia, Georgia, particularly ethnicity-based violence,

Recalling all relevant Security Council resolutions, and noting the conclusions of the Budapest (1994), Lisbon (1996) and Istanbul (1999) summits of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in particular the reports of “ethnic cleansing” and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in Abkhazia, Georgia,

Deploring practices of arbitrary forced displacement and their negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by large groups of people, and deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation created by the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of persons from Abkhazia, Georgia,

Deeply concerned by the demographic changes resulting from the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, and regretting any attempt to alter the pre-conflict demographic composition in Abkhazia, Georgia,

Emphasizing that the rights of the Abkhaz population living in Abkhazia, Georgia, have to be protected and guaranteed,

1. Recognizes the right of return of all refugees and internally displaced persons and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to Abkhazia, Georgia;

2. Emphasizes the importance of preserving the property rights of refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, including victims of reported “ethnic cleansing”, and calls upon all Member States to deter persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining property within the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia,

in violation of the rights of returnees;

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1 E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex.

3. Underlines the urgent need for the rapid development of a timetable to ensure the prompt voluntary return of all refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in Abkhazia, Georgia;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-third session a comprehensive report on the implementation of the present resolution;

5. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-third session the item entitled “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development”.

97th plenary meeting

15 May, 2008.

(www.un.org/docs)