Dolidze: Georgian authorities fail to address refugees' problems

Several families, evicted on August 13 from the hospital in Isani district, continue their hunger strike in front of the Ministry for the Matters of Refugees and Temporarily-Displaced Persons and Accommodation in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. On August 24, four of them sewed their mouths to show their commitment not to take food. In the opinion of Victor Dolidze, a deputy of the City Assembly of Tbilisi, the authorities are unable to solve refugees' problems.

Ramaz Aruniya, a refugee from the Gali District of Abkhazia and the organizer of the protest action, says that the main hunger-strikers' demand is to get compensation from the authorities at the rate of 10,000 US dollars to every family evicted from the hospital or to get some alternative housing from them.

"We demand only what had been allotted to us under the state strategy plan adopted by the government and approved by the president. We ask nothing extra," Ramaz Aruniya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

One of the protesting women, a teacher of 82 from Gulripshi, who refused to present herself, complained she was forced to stay in the street at night: "My husband was killed, my house was burnt down, nothing remained; and here I am - they forced me out like a dog. They came at 11 in the evening on August 12 and promised that if we didn't move out by 6 in the morning with all out stuff, they'd throw us out into the street."

Initially, refugees held their protest action in front of the building of the European Union's representative office in Tbilisi. "A representative of the European Commission came down to us and invited us to come here with him; he went up to the Minister, talked to him, went down and promised that everything would be OK. But all the night they persuaded me: we'll give you 200 laris, and you stop it. The women, who had decided to do this, were offered 200 laris!" Ramaz Aruniya was indignant.

Victor Dolidze, a deputy of the City Assembly from Irakli Alasaniya's Party "Free Democrats", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that for the last week nobody had come to meet the refugees from the above ministry.

Georgi Tsagareishvili, a Georgian MP from the above party, has reminded that after the August conflict in 2008 the USA and the European Union have allocated 2 billion US dollars in the form of grants and 2 billion more - in the form of credits. However, as the parliamentarian has noted, the issue of accommodating refugees was not solved.