OSCE Chairmanship, at Geneva Discussions, calls for greater freedom of movement

GENEVA, 4 October 2011 –The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Protracted Conflicts, Giedrius Čekuolis, today highlighted the progress in the three years of the Geneva talks, especially through the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms, where security issues faced by the people affected by the August 2008 conflict in Georgia are discussed and resolved.

All the participants welcomed the fact that the security situation remains stable and calm. “This is no small achievement. Three years ago the security assessment was very different,” said Čekuolis.

In the absence of commitments on the non-use of force by all sides “our common goal must be the development of confidence- and security-building measures that could strengthen confidence and military transparency,” added Čekuolis “We cannot live in a security vacuum, otherwise the security situation on the ground could spin out of the control again, and the consequences could be disastrous.”

“Glossing over grievances won’t do. They need to be dealt with. There are still ordinary people who are suffering the consequences and a poorer quality of life because of restrictions on freedom of movement as well as on access to education and healthcare, just to name a few.”

Čekuolis called on the participants to ensure that all local communities are allowed to live without having their freedom of movement restricted.

At today’s 17th round of the Geneva International Discussions the new EU Special Representative, Philippe Lefort, joined Antti Turunen of the UN and Giedrius Čekuolis of the OSCE as one of the Co-Chairs.

The Geneva International Discussions take place in two parallel working groups. One group deals with security and stability, and the other with humanitarian questions, including internally displaced persons and refugees.

The Co-Chairs agreed with the participants that the next meeting will be in Geneva on 14 December 2011.