Georgia introduces new rules for organizations working in Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Under a new decree of the Georgian government, the humanitarian international organization, which are rendering help to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, shall fill in a special form and send it into the office of the Georgian State Minister for Reintegration, who is obliged then to present, within 21 working days, his comments or sanction the project. His refusal to implement the project may be appealed against in court.

As reported in the office of the government of Georgia, the already enacted decree was passed on the basis of the Law "On Occupied Territories" and the state strategy "Involvement through Cooperation". The document is aimed to create "the most favourable conditions for the organizations operating in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the IA "News-Georgia" reports.

The special rules of the decree stipulate that if a project assumes residents' travels to the territories controlled by Russian troops, these citizens must have Georgian foreign passports or some neutral documents for travel.

The decree stressed that the new rules do not apply to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

So far, no reaction of Abkhazian and South-Ossetian authorities to the new decree of the Georgian government has followed.