“We Are People Deprived of All Rights”

IDPs from Abkhazia have visited the Human Rights Center’s Kutaisi office lately. They complain about their rights being violated and recall many facts, too. Their complaints are varied: some complain about unemployment, others complain about poor living conditions or evictions.

According to statistics, 27,064 IDPs reside in Imereti Region. 12,899 of these live in Kutaisi. As it has become clear, these people trust the non-governmental organizations more than the government. Consequently, they apply to NGOs quite often.

Human Rights Center’s Kutaisi office carried out polls in the Imereti Region on social issues among IDPs. The questions were: Are their rights protected, how are their rights violated, and who assists them in solving their problems? The polls showed that almost 90% of IDPs think that their rights are violated everywhere and blatantly.

Fifty-seven-year-old Alika Danelia:  “You should ask the question in a different way – you should ask whether we have any rights at all? If we have any, we do not need them because we never enjoy any. I am from Sokhumi, and I have been forced to live in a resort house in Tskaltubo for many years.  We expect the investor will expel out from the building. We have witnessed so many examples of such harassment. The situation is caused by a government that does not care about us. It is all the same for them whether we live or die.”

Thirty-four-year-old Marina Gunia: “Our rights are violated everywhere. Fourteen years ago, my family of ten was living in two rooms in an abandoned building. We repaired the ruined walls, and finally the rooms looked decent. One morning men with railroad ties arrived at our house and said the building was sold out and that we had to leave the place. They were treating us like animals. We left the place, because we had no more way out, and now we live with our relatives”

Forty-five-year-old Nana Eradze: “I am so irritated that I do not want to talk about it. I know our conversation will be useless and the situation will not improve after it. We are people who are deprived from all rights, and unfortunately nobody needs us.”

Seventy-year-old Shota Milorava: “I have grown old yet have never before seen such impudence and dishonesty. I live in a small room in the hotel “Kutaisi”. They offer us 4,500 USD, and we must leave the place. Where should we go? What can I and my ill wife do? Nobody cares about us. We cannot protect our rights, either. Nevertheless, who cares about our rights? They are looking forward to our death.”

Twenty-five-year-old Giorgi Ketsbaia: “Not only we but no Georgian citizen has any kind of right in Georgia. History has never recorded so many evictions and unemployment. Thank god we managed to buy the house. Otherwise we would also have to spend nights in the street like others.”

Thirty-eight-year-old Lali Laghidze: “We are slaves who they treat according to their own wish. What else can I say when they forced us from our houses, burnt them down, killed our family members and relatives, and now [the government] is forcing us from here, too. The taxes have increased. We cannot afford to buy food because of the high prices. Instead of assisting us, the government is driving us to our demise. I used to trade in front of the Kutaisi Central Market, and now I have been sitting at home for more that two weeks. The police dispersed us and seized our products. Is this life?”

Fort-four-year-old Ineza Chachua: “I am thankful to god that I can survive and feed my children. But many of my relatives live in an unbearable situation. When you invite a mentally disabled person to the Prosecutor’s Office and then sentence him to pre-trial detention, what else would you complain about? He seems to have damaged the state for many years because he was getting the pension as a war participant. If he did not deserve the pension, why did they grant him it? Let them punish the person who granted these people the pension illegally. Anyway, I wonder what was illicit in that pension. There are so many similar problems, but there is no one to resolve them.”  

Sixty-seven-year-old Razden Khaindrava: “It is shame what is going on in our country. I think we do not deserve such treatment. Nowadays, brother does not show mercy to his brother, and who would have mercy on us here? It would have been better if we had not lost our houses. I wish we did not have to be in the situation of asking somebody for help.”

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi