OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (OneWorld) - Numerous humanitarian groups are responding to the diverse needs of Georgian refugees, but the international community must also deploy a civilian protection force and a fact-finding mission to investigate evidence of unlawful use of force by all parties to the conflict, said a human rights watchdog Sunday.

Nona Varduashvili with her eight-month-old daughter waits for humanitarian aid at a center for refugees near Tbilisi's city hall. © Nina Akhmeteli/EurasiaNet.org "This conflict has been a disaster for civilians," said Rachel Denber, Europe and Central Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Although international organizations are assisting thousands of people forced to flee their homes due to over a week of violence between Georgian and Russian troops, HRW stated today that international bodies must take further steps to ensure civilians are protected and the parties to the conflict are held accountable for all incidences of unlawful use of force.

Human Rights Watch states:

At the start of the military conflict on August 7, 2008, Georgian military used indiscriminate and disproportionate force resulting in civilian deaths in South Ossetia. The Russian military has since used indiscriminate force in attacks in South Ossetia and in the Gori district, and has apparently targeted convoys of civilians attempting to flee the conflict zones. Ongoing looting, arson attacks, and abductions by militia are terrorizing the civilian population, forcing them to flee their homes and preventing displaced people from returning home.

"This conflict has been a disaster for civilians," said Rachel Denber, Europe and Central Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch. "An international security mission should be deployed to help protect civilians and create a safe environment for the displaced to return home. And international organizations should also send fact-finding missions to establish the facts, report on human rights, and urge the authorities to account for any crimes."

Human Rights Watch called on the European Union, with the agreement of the parties, to deploy a robust European Security and Defense Policy (EDSP) mission consisting of police and security forces to ensure protection of civilians and the return of displaced persons to their homes.

Human Rights Watch noted that there are a number of options open to the international community in relation to fact-finding missions. As a first step, the chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could send a special envoy to Georgia, including to South Ossetia, supported by a team of experts in international humanitarian law, to look at violations.

Human Rights Watch also called on the United Nations to send a team to assess options for a fact-finding mission, and called for consideration to be given to establishing an International Fact Finding Commission as provided for in Article 90 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, to which both Georgia and Russia are party. This would be the first time that such a commission was actively established, and in line with the treaty provisions, it would have a mandate to investigate violations of the Geneva Conventions and the First Protocol.

Refugees search through donated clothing in Tbilisi. © Nina Akhmeteli/EurasiaNet.org The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that over 100,000 people have been displaced by the conflict and aid agencies are reaching out to some of these people with food relief, medical supplies, and specialized services for refugee children.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) reports:

"We understand the food situation in Gori has now become desperate," said WFP Georgia Country Director, Lola Castro. "We are providing the Government with high energy biscuits (HEB) and sugar to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable displaced people in the town."

The WFP is also working in other Georgian cities where refugees are facing food shortages.

WFP has identified bakeries near areas where internally displaced people have concentrated, and the agency is supplying wheat flour to make bread for distribution to the hungry. It is also providing food for soup kitchens, set up to enable people – many of whom have no access to cooking facilities – to eat hot food.

So far WFP has provided food assistance to some 34,000 people displaced by the conflict.

Meanwhile, international relief organization Oxfam America describes their efforts to respond to refugees' medical and legal needs:

An Oxfam team in Georgia will begin distributing medical supplies to hospitals and blankets and other essential items to those displaced by the recent fighting. The initial aid effort is expected to be increased depending on the results of a rapid assessment which is underway.

Oxfam's local partner organization, Gyla, is assisting displaced people from the conflict areas to obtain official registration in order to qualify for humanitarian support and helping them to obtain necessary documents. Many of them were unable to take any personal belongings with them when they left their homes.

Children affected by the conflict in Georgia. © Thomas Hill/The IRCAs conflict takes a particularly hard toll on children, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is working with a Russian aid group to provide children fleeing the violence in South Ossetia with psychological support. The refugee agency reports:

"Many of the refugees are children who have witnessed bombing and fighting and therefore need qualified psychological assistance," says the IRC's Caucasus director, Thomas Hill.

In response, the IRC has partnered up with a local organization, the Ossetian Children's Fund, which has identified 10 children of school age living in the only orphanage in Tskhinvali, the war-ravaged capital of South Ossetia. This week, through an IRC grant, the children were taken to the Lipki-Beshki rehabilitation center near Moscow, where they will be treated. The IRC grant covers the children's food, clothes, shoes, hygiene articles and transportation to the Russian capital.

In the first days following the outbreak of violence, the IRC also began distributing bedding, soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, and kitchenware to people taking refuge in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, a region in Russia that neighbors South Ossetia in Georgia. The group warned, however, that the large influx of people needing assistance may quickly overwhelm their capacity to respond.

Tensions have long been high between the two former Soviet nations over the region of South Ossetia, where a large group of Ossetians wants to separate themselves from the nation of Georgia.

"The breakup of the Soviet Union provided the opportunity for two regions within Georgia to flex their own muscles," writes OneWorld UK in its country guide on Georgia. "Conflicts between the Georgian Army and armed groups of separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have resulted in deaths of thousands of people and displaced more than 300,000 civilians."

Although a fragile peace was established in 1992, Russia has continued to support Georgia's separatist regions and tensions between the two countries have remained high, explains OneWorld UK volunteer editor Misha Kechakmadze.