The Public Defender expresses condolences over the death of a 60-year-old IDP in the former Geologist sanatorium building of Tskaltubo and offers sympathy to the family and beloved ones of the deceased.

As far as we are informed, the building, which houses up to sixty internally displaced families, poses a danger to their life and health. Apart from the fact that the building is damaged, it is not supplied with natural gas. As far as we know, the gas distribution company refused to supply the building with gas because of the lack of safety standards in the building.

The long-term resettlement of IDPs is carried out on the basis of a scoring system based on certain criteria. The exceptions are the IDPs living in the collapsing facilities, which can be resettled without the scoring system.

Although the building of the Geologist sanatorium is collapsing, the State did not use the above approach. It should also be noted that many internally displaced families live in similar conditions. In particular, 3,191 families are registered in 133 dilapidated facilities across the country. The Public Defender describes the rights situation of the families living in such facilities as a serious problem in her annual parliamentary reports and calls for more privileged resettlement of such IDPs.[1]

The Public Defender of Georgia once again calls on the Agency for IDPs, Eco-Migrants and Livelihoods to use all the leverage at its disposal to ensure the long-term resettlement of IDPs from the life-threatening facilities, and in case of absence of sufficient resources (apartments), to provide rented houses for such families before the long-term resettlement.

[1] Public Defender of Georgia, Parliamentary Report 2015, pages 806-810, see: <http://bit.ly/32uTHdy>; Parliamentary Report 2016, pages 743-750, see: <http://bit.ly/2vpaa79>; Parliamentary Report 2017, pages 334-335, see: <http://bit.ly/3a8woJi> and Parliamentary Report 2018, pages 320-321, see: <http://bit.ly/2T1H3jb>.