PRESS RELEASE
"Yerkir", Union Of Non-Governmental Organizations
For Repatriation And Settlement
20 Bakunts str., Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Anahit Davidyants
Mobile: +(374 94) 45 99 94
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Yerevan
November 5, 2007
«YERKIR» UNION TOOK PART IN CONSIDERATION OF GERORIA’S REPORT AND COUNTRY
SITUATION BY UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
On October 15-16th, 2007 the UN Human Rights Committee (headquarters in
Geneva) considered the third periodic report on Georgia about how that State
Party is fulfilling its obligations under the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
Among other questions related to the protection of human rights in Georgia,
the Committee discussed the status of ethnic minorities and protection of
their rights. The Union of Non-governmental Organizations for Repatriation
and Settlement «Yerkir» also took part in the hearings. The UN Human Rights
Committee gave «Yerkir» the privilege on its own behalf and within the
frameworks of the session to organize a separate discussion on the current
status of ethnic minority rights in Georgia.
During the discussions, Dr Fernand de Varennes, a well-known Canadian expert
invited by `Yerkir’ Union, presented the current situation with violations
of the Armenian minority’s rights in Georgia as follows:
· Non-alternative use of the Georgian language in public life fixed
in legislation,
· Gradual reduction in the representation of Armenians in
administrative bodies and insufficient participation in public life as a
consequence of language barrier,
· Offering training courses only in the Georgian language in state
educational establishments,
· Impossibility to get into Georgian universities for the
overwhelming majority of the Armenian entrants owing to insufficient
knowledge of the state language,
· Necessity of founding an Armenian university in Georgia, etc.
Levon Isakhanyan, representative of `Yerkir-Georgia’ organization (the
branch of «Yerkir» Union in Tbilisi), laid out among other issues the
problems facing the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
particularly,
· The impossibility to obtain a state registration as a public legal
entity,
· The unproductive efforts in securing the return of church-owned
structures and church property confiscated from the Armenian Church during
the Soviet regime.
As a result of the hearings the UN Human Rights Committee adopted a
document, which summed up its observations and conclusions and gave the
Georgian government recommendations on the improvement of the present
status of human rights in the country. The document also contains
recommendations on the problems facing ethnic minorities, especially the
Armenian and Azeri minorities.
Particularly, the Committee noted that the status of legal public entity was
granted exclusively to the Georgian Orthodox Church and expressed its
concern for the fact that the different status of other religious groups
could lead to discrimination. The Committee expressed its regret that
problems related to the restitution of places of worship and related
properties of religious minorities, confiscated during the Communist era,
have not been solved. The Committee obliged the Georgian government to take
steps and ensure the equal enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or
belief, and also to address the problems related to the confiscation of
places of worship and related properties of religious minorities.
The Committee expressed its concern for the obstacles faced by minorities in
the enjoyment of their cultural rights, as well as for the low level of
their political representation. The Georgian government was given the
following recommendations:
a) Consider the possibility of allowing minorities to use their own language
at the level of local government and administration;
b)Take all appropriate measures to ensure adequate political representation
and participation of minorities, in particular Armenian and Azeri
communities, as well as to improve their knowledge of the Georgian language.
The State Party should take steps to eliminate language based discriminatory
practices;
c) Promote the integration of minorities in the Georgian society. To this
purpose, the State Party should engage in a dialogue with the concerned
groups and civil society working with minority issues;
d) Adopt indicators and benchmarks to determine whether relevant
antidiscrimination goals have been reached.
To obtain full information on the Committee’s 91th session proceedings
please visit .
With the aim to present the results of the Human Rights Committee hearings
on Georgia, «Yerkir» Union intends to organize several briefings, the first
of which will take place in Akhalkalaki on November 24, 2007.