Human Rights Center Addresses Shovi Disaster, Calls for Accountability and Transparency
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, August 10, 2023
According to the organization, the right to human life is protected by Article 10 of the Constitution of Georgia. According to the European Convention on Human Rights, "every person's right to life is protected by law", and the government has a positive obligation to protect life.
The organization states that during one of the similar facts, it was explained in the case that in order to avoid the risk of a landslide, the government is obliged to take appropriate preventive measures and have an effective response to protect people's right to life.
"In the mentioned case, since the government failed to provide an adequate preventive and emergency response, according to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the state was ordered to compensate the victim for material and moral damages," the organization said.
The Human Rights Center calls upon the investigative bodies to conduct the investigation objectively, thoroughly and effectively, so that in case of identifying the fault of the relevant state agencies, all persons involved in the crime are held accountable.
The organization considers it important to conduct the investigative process in such a way as to answer all questions of high public interest, including:
1. What preventive works were carried out in order to avoid the tragedy?
According to Article 36 of the Civil Security Law of Georgia, the Emergency Situations Management Service coordinates the functioning of the national system and is responsible for planning and implementing policies in the field of civil security.
Additionally, according to the Law of Georgia On Environmental Protection, the competence of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia includes the implementation of the state policy in the field of environmental protection and the overall coordination of the environmental monitoring system. Therefore, it is important to analyze whether there was an appropriate policy planned for the protection of civilian security in Shovi.
According to Article 39 of the Law On Civil Security, in order to reduce the risk of an emergency situation, the emergency management service is tasked with the constant identification, analysis, assessment of risk, planning and implementation of preventive measures and projects by the bodies of the state government, autonomous republics and municipalities and public In cooperation with legal entities of law and private law. Accordingly, it should be determined whether the risks in Shove were constantly being controlled and why the relevant agencies failed to take a preventive response when citizens were talking about the mentioned problems as early as 2020.
2. Was the emergency early warning system functioning?
According to Article 4 of the Decree of the Government of Georgia On the Approval of the Regulations of the Emergency Situations Management Service, the function of the Emergency Situations Management Service is to organize the creation and development of an early notification system about an expected or actual emergency situation, to collect and process the necessary data within the framework of the early notification system.
In addition, according to the announcement made by the current Vice Prime Minister of Georgia in 2018, in 2021, for the purpose of taking preventive measures, an early warning system should be implemented in the entire territory of Georgia, on which the relevant service of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture would work.
Therefore, it should be determined through the emergency early warning system why the landslide could not be predicted in advance, whether the river bed was changed artificially, and whether the water in the Buba River was being lowered and flooded.
3. Were the equipment necessary for rescue operations mobilized too late?
According to Article 23 of the Law on Civil Security of Georgia, the authority delegated to the municipality in the field of protection of the population and territory from an emergency situation is to ensure the constant readiness of the relevant response forces during an emergency situation. Accordingly, the investigation should assess whether it was possible to save people's lives if rescue operations were conducted promptly.
4. Are the survivors and missing people recorded in the respective lists and the search operations conducted wisely?
The authorities have not made public the list of missing and rescued people, which creates uncertainty, especially in cases where the missing person is a citizen of a foreign country and is not being searched for by family members. Additionally, if the lists were published, citizens would be able to provide accurate information that would be helpful in determining the total number of missing persons, increasing public awareness, and rationally conducting relevant search operations.
5. In order to effectively deal with the consequences of the disaster, would the assistance of other countries be vital?
It is important to find out if additional resources were needed to carry out rescue operations. Among them are equipment from other countries and whether the relevant agencies have conducted negotiations in this regard.
It is important to hold all relevant agencies and officials accountable in the event that the response to a natural disaster was ineffective or if it is established that state agencies had the opportunity to anticipate a natural disaster and implement preventive measures as much as possible, including by informing the population, which would curtail the casualties.
