Summary

Non-signatory Georgia has expressed support for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but says that national security concerns prevent it from acceding. Georgia last attended a meeting of the convention in 2012. Georgia abstained from the vote on the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

There is no evidence that Georgia has produced or exported cluster munitions, but it inherited stocks after the break-up of the Soviet Union and imported them from Israel in 2007. Georgia last used cluster munitions in 2008 during the conflict with Russia over South Ossetia.

Policy

Georgia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Georgia has not taken any steps to accede to the convention. It last commented on the matter in a 2010 response to the Monitor which expressed support for the convention’s “spirit” but said that Georgia is “reluctant to join…until the credible changes occur in the security environment of the region.”[1]

Georgia participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2] It attended an international conference on cluster munitions held in Santiago, Chile in June 2010.

Georgia attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012 as an observer, which marked its first and, to date, only attendance at a meeting of the convention. Georgia was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.

In December 2021, Georgia abstained from the vote on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Georgia has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Georgia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at use of cluster munitions in Syria.[4] It has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria.[5]

Georgia is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Georgia is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

Georgia inherited a stockpile of air-dropped cluster bombs from the Soviet Union.[6] It also acquired Mk-4 160mm surface-to-surface cluster munition rockets, each containing 104 M85-type submunitions, from Israel in 2007.[7]

Georgia destroyed 844 RBK-series cluster bombs and 320,375 submunitions in 2013 as part of a project to destroy obsolete weapons, supported by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).[8] The last RBK-series bombs were destroyed by open detonation at the Vaziani military firing range outside Tbilisi on 12 July 2013.

Cluster munitions destroyed in Georgia[9]

Use

Georgian forces last used cluster munition rockets during the August 2008 conflict with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Georgia’s Ministry of Defense said that it used 24 volleys with 13 Mk-4 cluster munition rockets in each.[10] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that Georgian armed forces used cluster munitions against Russian forces near the Roki tunnel.[11] Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers found remnants of Georgian-fired cluster munitions in civilian areas in the north of Gori district, south of the South Ossetian administrative border.[12]

Policy

Georgia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Over the years, Georgia has frequently stated its general support for a ban on antipersonnel mines, and has voted in favor of every annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for universalization of the treaty since 1997.

Georgia has not been a frequent participant at Mine Ban Treaty meetings, and did not attend the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, nor the intersessional meetings in May 2019. Its last statement at such a meeting was in 2007, when it told States Parties that it “fully shares the principles and objectives” of the treaty, that it “is well aware that the negative humanitarian impact of landmines far outweighs their military value,” and that it “tries to make its possible contribution in facilitation of the process of elimination and eradication of this threat.”[1] In the past, Georgia has insisted that its inability to fulfill the treaty’s obligations in disputed territories not controlled by the government—Abkhazia and South Ossetia—prevents it from acceding.[2] In a meeting with the Monitor in June 2011, a Georgian government official stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was beginning to consider the mine issue.[3]

Campaigners in Georgia participated in the Lend Your Leg global action on 18 February 2012 when NGOs and the Ministry of Sport and Tourism organized a backgammon tournament with survivors of landmines.[4]

Georgia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and joined CCW Amended Protocol II on landmines on 8 June 2009 and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war on 22 December 2008. It had previously stated it could not adhere to Amended Protocol II for the same reasons given for not joining the Mine Ban Treaty.[5] Georgia is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Georgia does not produce, import, or export mines.[6]

Georgia inherited what is believed to be a small stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the Soviet Union.[7] The Ministry of Defense completed an inventory of its antipersonnel mine stockpile in 2010, but did not make information on the size and composition of the stockpile publicly available. The ministry does not plan to destroy its stocks, but commits to safeguard them in a way to avoid dissemination or transfer to another state or non-state actors.[8]

Use

Georgia has had an official moratorium on the use of antipersonnel mines in place since September 1996.[9] In April 2007, a representative from the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told States Parties, “Since that time [1996] corresponding official structures of Georgia have been strictly refraining from use of antipersonnel mines. I have the chance to confirm my country’s firm resolution to keep this commitment in the future.”[10]

Despite its repeated denial of past use, it appears that Georgian armed forces used antipersonnel mines every year from 2001 to 2004, as well as in 2006, mostly in the Upper Kodori Gorge area adjoining the breakaway region of Abkhazia.[11] Opposition forces and Russian peacekeepers also alleged that Georgian forces laid mines in South Ossetia in 2006 and 2007, but the Monitor was not able to confirm the allegations.[12] There were additional allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by both Georgia and Russia during the heavy fighting related to South Ossetia in August 2008. Each side denied the allegations, and investigations by Human Rights Watch did not find evidence of new use of antipersonnel mines.[13]

South Ossetia

South Ossetia is a breakaway region of Georgia that shares a border and has very close ties with Russia.[14] South Ossetian officials have not made any public statements about a mine prohibition and have not taken any unilateral steps to ban antipersonnel mines. Prior to the 2008 conflict, South Ossetia was judged to have only a minor mine problem, and there is no evidence that either side used antipersonnel mines during the conflict. In May 2009, South Ossetian authorities reportedly recovered mines from a cache in Yeredvi village, which they alleged were from Georgia.[15]

In 2019, two donors contributed US$0.8million toward clearance operations and victim assistance in Georgia.[1] Georgia has never reported contributions to its own mine action operations.

International contributions: 2019[2]

Note: N/A=not applicable.

In the five-year period from 2015–2019, international contributions to mine action activities in Georgia totaled some $6.2 million. Annual contributions varied from a low of about $400,000 in 2016 to a high of $2.5 million in 2017.

Summary of international contributions: 2015–2019[3]

No mine/ERW casualties were identified in Georgia in 2017 or 2016.[2] The Monitor identified two new civilian antivehicle mine casualties in South Ossetia in 2015.[3] 

In April 2018, two people were injured as they entered a marked mine field in Rustavi.[4] 

ICRC/Georgian Red Cross Society (GRCS) data identified mine/ERW casualties, or victims, in 10 regions of Georgia: Tbilisi, Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Imereti, Samegrelo, Svaneti, Samtskhe, Javakheti, Kakheti, and Achara. The data indicated that males made up 85% of mine/ERW casualties, while 15% were female.[5] Civilians made up 57% of the casualties with 43% military—combatants at the time of their incident or engaged in police/law enforcement duties. Casualties were caused by mines, ERW, and improvised mines (victim-activated improvised explosive devices).[6] 

GRCS volunteers, supported by the ICRC, collected data on 1,307 mine/ERW victims as of the end of 2017 (226 killed; 1,081 injured).[7] 

Cluster munition casualties

In Georgia, there have been at least 70 casualties due to cluster munitions; all were reported in 2008, including 61 casualties during strikes and nine due to unexploded submunitions.[8] 

Georgia is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other types of explosive remnants of war (ERW). Georgia has made a commitment to provide victim assistance through the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).[1] The total number of survivors in Georgia is unknown, though it is estimated to be more than 700.[2]

Assessing victim assistance needs

The Georgia Red Cross Society (GRCS) continued to collect data on the needs of mine/ERW casualties and their families with the aim of “gaining a comprehensive picture of those needs and formulating an effective response.” With ICRC support, data collection by the National Red Cross Society continued in Georgia, including in Abkhazia, to assess the socio-economic needs of mine/ERW victims and formulate an appropriate response. An additional GRCS staff member was trained to update and maintain the mine-action database.[3]

During 2016 and through 2017, the United States (US) provided ongoing support for the development of prosthetic rehabilitation capabilities in Georgia.[4]

Victim assistance coordination

There is no victim assistance coordination mechanism in Georgia. The Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs coordinates disability issues, including those related to the mine/ERW survivors who have official disability status.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities

The ICRC continued to assist survivors through micro-economic initiatives in Georgia.[5] This assistance was supplemented by business training, provided with help from the GRCS.[6]

In South Ossetia, 19 disabled persons accessed physical rehabilitation services and/or obtained assistive devices with ICRC financial assistance. The ICRC also supported awareness-raising activities on the hazardousness of mine/ERW. These activities included a football match for mine/ERW victims featured on television, an ICRC film, and a radio interview with a representative of the ICRC.[7]

In 2016, the ICBL-GC conducted a joint economic inclusion project for persons with disabilities with two other NGOs operating in Georgia. The project was funded by the European Union. Through this project, the ICBL-GC and its partners registered over 500 persons with disabilities in their job seekers database, including some mine/ERW survivors.[8]

GEFPOR fitted prostheses to 61 new patients, three of whom were mine/ERW victims.[9] In September 2015, the construction of a new premises for GEFPOR was completed, having been initiated in 2013. The center was officially opened in November 2016.[10]

The ITF focused on raising the awareness of Georgian representatives about mine action, and in particular mine victim assistance, in order to encourage the creation of national capacities.[11] Established in 2009, the joint IOM and ITF economic inclusion project for mine/ERW was implemented as a pilot program until 2012. The second phase of this program concluded in 2015.[12] The project aimed to improve the standard of living of mine/ERW victims and their families through enhanced employability, greater access to seed funding for starting/expanding their own business, and through improved socio-economic support.[13]

There was a continuing lack of psychological support and social reintegration activities in Georgia.

The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, these provisions were not effectively enforced and social, educational, and employment discrimination against persons with disabilities remained a problem.[14] In 2014, Georgia adopted a law on the elimination of all forms of discrimination.[15] Legislation required access to buildings for persons with disabilities and stipulated fines for noncompliance. However, very few public facilities or buildings were accessible.[16] Local councils focused on addressing disability-related problems were established in 22 municipalities as part of the government’s 2014–2016 Action Plan on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.[17]

Georgia signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 10 July 2009 and ratified it on 13 March 2014.