On July 18, 2016, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees, to compensate internally displaced person P.K. for the allowance he had not received in 2008-2013, in the amount of the IDP’s allowance valid in the disputed period.

The Public Defender studied the case of internally displaced person P.K., who had not received the IDP’s allowance in 2008-2013, as he had not passed the registration announced by the Ministry in advance. P.K. passed the registration later, in February 2013, and thereby the ground for suspension of the allowance was eliminated. The Ministry resumed the allowance, though it did not compensate for the missed period despite the fact that according to the law valid in 2008-2013, IDPs’ suspended allowances were to be compensated for within the budget of the current year.

IDPs have the right to get a monthly allowance intended for them by law. It is issued every month to persons who have refugee status if there are no grounds for its suspension or termination. The suspended status and allowance of an IDP shall be resumed after elimination of relevant grounds.

The Public Defender considers that the material damage suffered by P.K. by not getting allowance after recovering his refugee status was caused by non-fulfillment of statutory obligations by the administrative authority.