Developments in Georgia

The information below is based on the 2009 report of the Secretary General to the Security Council (A/63/785-S/2009/158) issued on 26 March 2009. More information is available in the report.

The dramatic escalation of hostilities in South Ossetia, Georgia, on 7 and 8 August 2008, and the subsequent conflict significantly affected the situation in and around the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the fighting has led to the displacement of approximately 158,700 persons, with 120,700 displaced within Georgia and 38,000 South Ossetians having sought refuge in the Republic of North Ossetia of the Russian Federation. UNICEF has estimated that, as of 1 January 2009, there remain 12,000 children internally displaced and 400 children displaced in the Republic of North Ossetia of the Russian Federation.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, a total of 228 persons, including two children, were killed during and immediately after the hostilities. Reports indicate that some of the casualties were due to action by regular troops that fought during the August conflict, as well as by South Ossetian militias. According to the de facto authorities in South Ossetia, there were approximately 1,692 civilian casualties, including children. However, the United Nations indicated 391 civilians were killed and 2,234 injured. Mines and other unexploded remnants of war continue to pose a threat to a returning population in the areas adjacent to the South Ossetia administrative boundary line.

Approximately 99 schools suffered damage from the conflict to varying degrees, including from rocket attacks. Loss of school equipment and furniture was also reported both as a result of military action and subsequent looting.

As of the beginning of September 2008, 13 clinics in Gori and in the adjacent areas were not functioning owing to infrastructure damage and/or the displacement of health-care workers, having serious consequences for the provision of health services to children. Doctors and nurses were also killed or seriously injured from sniper shooting or bombardments of medical infrastructure during the conflict. Almost all health-care facilities in South Ossetian villages were totally destroyed. The main hospital in Tskhinvali was hit by rockets reportedly launched by Georgian forces.

There has been no humanitarian access to South Ossetia from the south since the August conflict, although the United Nations has been allowed full access to Abkhazia, Georgia. This has limited the ability of the United Nations to obtain information on the situation of children and their needs and to investigate child protection concerns. Humanitarian access to South Ossetia is currently provided through the Republic of North Ossetia of the Russian Federation.