Ambassador Victor Dolidze delivered a statement in the frame of the Human Rights Council 42nd Session General Debate
"Thank You Mr. President,
My delegation fully aligns itself with the joint Statement presented by the Finnish delegation on behalf of 41 countries. We also draw the attention of the international community to the so-called parliamentary elections conducted in the occupied Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia on 9 June 2019 and the so-called presidential elections on 25 August in occupied Abkhazia region. These illegal elections they blatantly violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders and contradict the fundamental norms and principles of international law.
They represents yet another futile attempt of the occupation power and its regimes to legitimize the ethnic cleansing of Georgians and forceful change of sovereign borders of Georgia. So-called parliamentary and presidential elections took place against, when internally displaced persons and refuges, forcibly expelled from the occupied territories, continue to be deprived of the possibility to return to their homes, and while the people on the ground are forced to live under violations of basic human rights and freedoms.
We call on the Russian Federation, an occupying power exercising full control over the occupied Georgian territories, to uphold rights of the population residing in the occupied territories, as stipulated in Article 3 of Vienna Declaration, respect the undertaken international obligations and fulfil the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement. We appeal to the international community to continue adequately asses and take effective measures against the illegal processes taking place in the occupied territories." - Victor Dolidze
