Georgia, 2006

Let me begin by thanking

this institution and all who subscribe to its values and

mission for providing me — and the citizens of my

nation — with the opportunity to address you today.

We are gathered here at a time when the

challenges and opportunities for the institution of the

United Nations have rarely been greater. And at this

gathering, we must ask ourselves where hope for peace

and prosperity would be, if the United Nations system

were not such an active presence around the globe.

My country salutes the ongoing efforts to make

the United Nations even more effective and welcomes

the candidacy of a Secretary-General whose

competence and unique perspective on gender-equality

issues will help advance that goal.

Georgia is grateful for the contributions of the

United Nations, for the commitment to build peace in

our region and the efforts to create new opportunities

for those most in need. I look forward to a continuation

and deepening of that productive cooperation.

In a few weeks time, we will be celebrating the

third anniversary of the peaceful, democratic

revolution that brought a new era of change and

progress to Georgia and the entire region. In fact, that

revolution caused reactions all over the world. Ours

was a revolution that gave power to its citizens, and it

did so by rebuilding the fundamental social contract

upon which any democracy must rest — a contract

founded on respect for the principles of transparency,

accountability and responsibility.

Today, citizens of Georgia’s democracy enjoy the

fruits of fundamental human security, liberty, human

rights and opportunity. We have changed the lives of

our people, and we have done so by confronting and

eliminating corruption, by fighting crime aggressively,

by investing heavily in education and health care and

by establishing new rules of the game — in a society

where little of that existed in the past. The results of

our efforts have not gone unnoticed.

In the last two months alone, the World Bank and

the European Bank for Reconstruction and

Development — to name a few international

institutions — have confirmed just how much Georgia

has changed. Today, we are recognized as the number

one reformer in the world, as one of the least corrupt

States in Europe, as an outstanding place to do

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business and as a role model for other countries of the

region. It is fair to say that our reforms, conducted in a

part of the world where few thought they were

possible, have in fact performed.

In two weeks time, we will take another step,

further solidifying the institutional framework upon

which our democracy rests, when we conduct local

elections. We are making that important investment in

our democracy because we believe in the necessity of

empowering our people with the responsibility and the

tools to shape their own future.

I look forward to healthy competition, transparent

elections and a more vibrant democratic system. That,

in our view, is the way in which we can provide our

State with the capacity to protect the vulnerable and

provide our citizens the means to build a better life.

However, like any nation undergoing great change, we

still have challenges ahead. Reform continues in the

judiciary and in other spheres, local self-government is

building capacity and employment remains the rightful

expectation of every citizen.

Our national aspirations are, however, not

parochial. We see Georgia as an active and responsible

member of the international community. To protect our

achievements and consolidate gains, we should face

common challenges and threats together. We are doing

that together with our friends, partners and allies in

places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, where our

troops help support international efforts to defeat

terrorism and build lasting peace and democracy.

Because of that commitment, we will continue to

actively pursue our membership in NATO and welcome

the most recent step forward, when just yesterday

Georgia was invited to join in Intensified Dialogue

with NATO. That is an important decisive step towards

full membership. We do so because we believe

democracies are stronger when they are united, and

that lasting security is best achieved through alliances

based on common values.

We are a European nation and that is not a recent

revelation. We would in fact be denying our history if

we felt — or acted — otherwise. In the next days, my

Government will be signing an action plan as part of

the European Union’s European Neighborhood Policy.

Thus, we will take another step, strengthening the

bonds that unite the family of European democracies.

It is the goal of my Government to become a

model European neighbour. We have learned from past

European experiences that the proper and peaceful

conduct of neighbourly relations is the foundation of

long-term peace and prosperity. That which Europe has

achieved in the last fifty years, we seek to achieve in

our neighbourhood in a much shorter time. That is our

collective challenge and common goal.

It will come as no surprise when we say that there

are still grave obstacles to establishing lasting peace in

my country. Reforms, especially when they are

democratic, upset old interests and old habits. It is a

simple statement of political fact that there are frequent

attempts to undermine our reforms, our progress and

our democratic way of life. We must all beware of

those who believe that the presence of a stable

democracy as a neighbour is threatening. Georgia’s

democracy — like all democracies around the world —

does not wish to be seen as threatening.

The painful truth however, is that in Georgia

today we have inherited the brutal legacy of unresolved

territorial conflicts. Those conflicts undermine our

stability and the stability of our region. In fact, that

inherited legacy is directly responsible for the

systematic abuse of the fundamental human rights of a

large portion of our population. Just imagine for a

moment, that children who find themselves victims of

those savage events are denied the right to learn or

speak their native language; that the elderly are not

allowed access to adequate health care; that young

people cannot receive a proper education and that

hundreds of thousands of people cannot return safely to

their homes where they belong, from which they were

systematically ethnically cleansed and which in many

cases have been illegally sold or destroyed.

Further, the painful, but factual truth is that those

regions are being annexed by our neighbour to the

north — the Russian Federation — which has actively

supported their incorporation through a concerted

policy of mass distribution of Russian passports — a

policy that is in direct violation of international law

and is unprecedented. There are few more poignant

examples of one State seeking to annex the

internationally recognized sovereign territory of

another State and thus undermining the other State.

Today, I would like to ask all of you in this Hall,

if any Members in this great Hall would welcome — or

tolerate — such interference by another Power on their

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own soil. I doubt it. Yet, this is the situation we are

facing today in Georgia. These are the actions that we

must confront as we seek to consolidate and defend our

democracy. Let us never forget that the victims of

conflicts are real people, that the climate of fear that

they live in is pervasive and that their suffering must

come to an end. With those conflicts, we have also

inherited frameworks for peacekeeping and formats for

negotiation that no longer function. Simply put — they

neither promote peace nor do they encourage genuine

negotiation. If the purpose of our revolution was to

guarantee to all citizens of Georgia the right to

participate fully in the life and decisions of the State,

then our revolution remains unfinished.

Today, in Georgia’s conflict zones, we do not

enjoy a status quo of stability and progress; that,

unfortunately, is a popular fiction. Rather, we find

ourselves facing a deteriorating situation in which

sponsors of crime and illegality are gaining the upper

hand. Let us be clear: Georgia is a responsible

democracy, and if we are to take that responsibility

seriously, we must acknowledge that embracing change

is the only path towards a just and lasting peace.

The shortcomings of the current peacekeeper

system are well documented. A few examples, taken

directly from reports provided by the United Nations

and the OSCE, demonstrate how Russian-dominated

forces on the ground have served to perpetuate rather

than resolve the conflicts and how they have abused

and made a farce of the principles of neutrality,

impartiality and trust. By choice, they themselves —

not we — have, in effect, annulled their own status.

Since the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in

Abkhazia, Georgia, more than 2,000 Georgian citizens

of all ethnic origins have lost their lives in this zone

controlled by peacekeepers, and more than 8,000

Georgian homes have been destroyed. For more than

12 years, Russian peacekeepers have been unable to

facilitate the return of more than 250,000 internally

displaced persons to their homes in Abkhazia, although

this is explicitly stated in their mandate.

The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia

(UNOMIG) and the OSCE have been cataloguing

numerous violations involving the transfer of heavy

weaponry such as tanks, armoured personnel carriers,

artillery, mortar, anti-aircraft systems and cannons to

the separatists, even as the Georgian Government has

been taking action to unilaterally demilitarize.

Russian peacekeepers have proved unable and

unwilling to take any measures to halt such violations.

In fact, some of them have directly encouraged such

violations and assisted in them.

In South Ossetia, 18 illegal military exercises

using prohibited equipment were catalogued in the past

year alone. Many involved the direct participation of

Russian peacekeepers. This is all well documented.

Unfortunately, the list goes on.

Imagine. In the village of Chubirkhinji, during

talks sponsored by the United Nations, an 8-year-old

Georgian boy saw his country’s flag from the window

of his school and exclaimed, “Long live Georgia!” At

that very moment, in front of live television cameras

and in front of United Nations observers, local

separatist militias moved in, arresting every single

teacher in that school and taking them to undisclosed

locations. That was done before the very eyes of the

international community by the proxies of Russian

peacekeepers.

Let us be under no illusion. The residents of our

disputed territories are under a form of gangster

occupation whose hope is that the international

community will lose interest and reward the results of

ethnic cleansing. That cannot be allowed to happen. If

we stand by, we will have accepted the fact that

indifference and illegality are the new rules of the

international game.

This leads me to the topic of Kosovo. As the

international community seeks to find a just solution to

this decade-long issue, we must take stock of the

extraordinarily counterproductive efforts made by the

Russian Federation to abuse this unique situation for

the pursuit of narrow special interests. Here, too, we

must be very frank: any attempt — and many have

been made — by Russian officials to create or suggest

a nineteenth-century-style solution involving deals and

territorial swaps in exchange for agreement on Kosovo

would be not only old-fashioned but deeply immoral.

Mr. Wenaweser (Liechtenstein), Vice-President,

took the Chair.

I wish to remind all present that my country’s

territories, just like yours, are not for sale or exchange.

Any hint of a precedent for Abkhazia and South

Ossetia would therefore be both inappropriate and

reckless.

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The foundation of modern peace and security in

Europe is based directly on the principle of respect for

territorial integrity and sovereignty. Indeed, it is the

cornerstone of the contemporary international order.

If the Russian Federation persists in attempting to

make this dangerous linkage and undermine that

fundamental order, the impact will be far-reaching and

a Pandora’s box will be opened, unleashing violent

separatism and conflict not only in the Caucasus but

across many parts of our globe. We all must be aware

of this.

I must assure the Assembly that, because we are a

responsible democracy, Georgia will not allow this to

happen. To that end, we will, however, work in the

spirit, and on the basis, of the values that govern all

civilized democracies. In this I do not believe that we

are alone. It is our firm belief that, as Europe looks to

intensify its relationship with its neighbours in the

East, there is a strong interest in avoiding instability

and in rejecting the unravelling of sovereign statehood.

It is with these goals and threats in mind that I

would like to share with the Assembly my thoughts on

how together we can frustrate the aspirations of those

who draw strength from the cynical politics of division

and fear. Responsible nations have an obligation to act

accordingly, and my Government is firm in its belief

that we need to transform and replace the current

framework for negotiation and peacekeeping in

Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is therefore our solemn

duty and sovereign right to replace ineffective

mechanisms with ones that work, substitute partial

forces with ones that are fair, and replace fear with

hope, and mutual suspicion with newfound trust.

Our efforts are guided by principles that are

simple, predictable and clear. We will consult, we will

cooperate, and we will commit ourselves to avoiding

any policy that is destabilizing. Our goal is the pursuit

of peace and a peaceful resolution.

But, again, let me be very clear. If we fail to unite

in support of new mechanisms to advance peace, we

will give the green light to those whose intentions lie

elsewhere, and we risk plunging the region into

darkness and conflict despite our best efforts to

promote peace.

That is why I am proposing today a fresh road

map aimed at resolving the situation whose goal is the

peaceful reunification of my country within its

internationally recognized borders: a country in which

all the diverse ethnic groups of Georgia — and

diversity is our strength — can live in peace and

harmony, as they did for thousands of years, and enjoy

the fruits of democracy in a society that both protects

and celebrates their unique heritage; a country that

invests in new schools, hospitals and roads, rather than

in weapons and armaments.

The essential elements of this package must

include the demilitarization of Abkhazia and South

Ossetia, backed by the active engagement of the United

Nations, the OSCE, the European Union and other

international organizations. It must include direct

dialogue between the parties on the ground, and here I

mean the central Georgian Government and the

separatist authorities, so that together we can assume

responsibility for resuming the dialogue for peace

among peoples and among different communities.

These efforts can and will succeed through the

establishment of an international police presence in

both regions, backed, again, by the robust participation

of the international community. Once such a force is in

place, we will be ready to endorse its mandate by

signing a comprehensive non-use-of-force pledge.

More must also be done to restore trust and

improve living standards, and we are prepared to

rehabilitate the economies of both regions, which is a

necessity. Why should our citizens be reduced to living

in such miserable economic conditions? We are ready

to contribute significantly to restoring access to the

opportunities that the rest of Georgia’s citizens are now

starting to enjoy. Additional confidence-building

measures will also be implemented.

Today, the situation in Georgia is marked by both

opportunities and threats. Every day there are new

provocations, and every day criminal elements

consolidate their hold — actions whose consequences

will have international implications. Examples include

shooting at helicopters, as well as other incidents that

have occurred in recent days.

As we move forward to replace and transform

those anachronistic mechanisms, we continue to stand

ready to work with our neighbour, the Russian

Federation, because Russia must become part of the

solution. Consultations aimed at changing those

mechanisms have already begun and will intensify in

the weeks and months ahead.

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It is well established and universally accepted

that under international law Georgia has the sovereign

right to request the removal of foreign military forces

that impede the peaceful resolution of conflict. We

make no secret of our intention to exercise that right,

because it is based on the most fundamental principles

governing a nation and the international community.

It is in the spirit of the United Nations Charter

that we seek to bring the benefits of our democratic

revolution to all the citizens of Georgia and to every

corner of our country.

It is with the deepest respect for this institution

and on this occasion that I have chosen to signal not

only our desires, but also our concerns. Let no one ever

say that Georgia was not clear as to how it sought to

protect democracy and the State. Let no one ever say

that we sought to do so by other than peaceful means.

There is simply no other path for our country — or the

international community at large — to follow. We

chose to join the standard-bearers of civilized

democracy; let no one ever say that we did not act

accordingly.

We assume that all nations which share these

same values are willing to make the necessary

sacrifices for them, so that collectively we can achieve

peace in our very important region. Let us, therefore,

embrace this historic opportunity and not delay.