OSCE to focus on unresolved conflicts in Georgia

Ireland will advance on so-called protracted conflicts existing in OSCE space, involving Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, which remain unresolved some two decades after they first erupted in war - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland and Vice Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore has said, laying out his priorities for Ireland’s year as Chairman of the 56-nation OSCE at its headquarters in Vienna.

Gilmore, the new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, said, while emphasizing his country’s chairmanship priorities, that Ireland would “seek ways in which progress can be made towards lasting settlements of a number of conflicts in the OSCE area”, including to the conflicts “in Georgia regarding the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia”.

“The situation in Georgia is a matter of particular concern,” said Gilmore, adding that Ireland strongly supports the Geneva discussions - Russian-Georgian talks launched after the August war and co-chaired by the EU, OSCE and UN.

As Ireland succeeds Lithuania with OSCE chairmanship, Irish diplomat Padraig Murphy will assume co-chair of the Geneva talks from OSCE, the next and nineteenth round of which is scheduled for March 28-29.

In his address Gilmore also said that he would be determined to pursue the OSCE principles and aims “in a balanced and pragmatic manner”.

He said that experience of achieving a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland “may be of benefit in facilitating the efforts which are needed to resolve outstanding conflicts in the OSCE region”.

According to him, among the Irish OSCE chairmanship’s top priorities Gilmore also emphasized prioritizing the organization’s human dimension, making a focus on human rights, media and internet freedom.

The OSCE monitoring mission to Georgia, including its field office, had been involved in the Tskhinvali region conflict for sixteen years until the 2008 August War. The mission was terminated after OSCE member Russia blocked extension of the mission’s mandate in 2009.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergi Kapanadze, OSCE priorities will remain the same under Irish chairmanship. “One of the priorities is to resume the OSCE mission in occupied regions [Abkhazia and so-called South Ossetia]. The second priority for the following year is human rights protection monitoring in occupied regions, and active involvement in regards to the IDP issue. Last year we managed to actualize the IDP topic in OSCE, which had been idle for decades,” said Kapanadze.

According to Paata Gaprindashvili, Georgia’s permanent representative to OSCE, Ireland will continue implementation of mechanisms which can be conformable to an OSCE full-scale mission. The Georgian Ambassador emphasizes the idea of an “assistant group” announced under Lithuanian chairmanship.

“It will be a group comprised of several persons, which will work in Vienna in a conflict prevention centre, and assist the OSCE plenipotentiary representative in conflict issues. This group should have the opportunity to travel in the regions [Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region] and stay as much as is required,” said Gaprindashvili.

Indeed, no one has any illusion that Irish chairmanship will be able to escape the deadlock and make progress in regards to the mission’s return to occupied regions. In fact, from previous chair countries neither Greece and Kazakhstan, nor Georgia’s ally Lithuania could manage to return the monitoring mission, as the OSCE decision-making process requires a consensus of all member states including Russia.