UN General Assembly passes resolution on right of return for Georgian IDPs with record support

The UN’s General Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday calling for the right of return for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with a record number of 107 countries voting in favour.

Georgia has put forward the resolution at the UN since the August 2008 War, and has seen growing support in the years since. Beyond insisting on the right of return, the resolution also ‘condemns the forced demographic changes’ in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Nine countries voted against the resolution, 49 abstained, and 26 did not vote.

Four more countries — South, Paraguay, Seychelles, and Sierra Leone — voted for the resolution as compared to 2024.

Another significant change was an abstention from Syria, which had routinely voted against the resolution during the regime of now ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

Since Assad’s overthrow in December 2024, there has been much speculation whether the new government would alter its stance on recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia — it is currently one of only five countries to do so.

China and the UAE — two countries that the ruling Georgian Dream party has expended much energy to court — continued to abstain on the vote.

Armenia, which until 2024 regularly voted against the resolution, voted again in support.

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili welcomed this year’s vote, highlighting the record number of countries supporting the resolution.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement expressing its ‘deep gratitude to the international community for their unwavering support’.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

IDP self-immolates in Tbilisi ‘over housing conditions’

The man’s identity is unknown, but he reportedly remains in hospital.

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