Georgia

A thematic rights-based approach to the life stories

In this section of the website, you can access testimonies through quotes organised according to 17 themes. These themes have been selected because they appear recurrently in the testimonies and reflect what internally displaced people have found essential to focus on and share. In most cases, the themes correspond to fundamental human rights and guarantees relevant to preventing displacement, in protecting and assisting IDPs during displacement, and in ensuring durable solutions to displacement. These themes have therefore been linked with relevant provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and pertinent provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

You can view the complete testimonies to learn more about the narrator’s personal experience through the link at the end of the quote.

• Protection from displacement
  
  Everyone has the right to be protected from arbitrary displacement. Displacement deprives people of their right to choose their residence and interferes with their freedom of movement by forcing them to leave their homes.
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• Displacement and family separation
  
  Internally displaced people have the right to respect for their family life. Their families are entitled to protection, and when family members wish to remain together they should be allowed to do so.
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• Children and displacement
  
  Children usually make up a significant part of internally displaced population. They have specific needs and are entitled to adequate treatment, protection and assistance.
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• Women and displacement
  
  Women often bear the brunt of conflicts and face particular protection threats; they have specific needs during displacement.
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• Standard of living - living conditions
  
  Internally displaced people have the right to an adequate standard of living, which comprises access to food, water and other necessary non-food items, for instance clothing, and also to housing.
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• Standard of living - housing and threat of evictions
  
  The right to housing, derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, is the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity.
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• Physical and mental health
  
  Internally displaced people have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to medical care and necessary social services.
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• Livelihoods - income generating opportunities
  
  The right to work underlies the realisation of other human rights. Internally displaced people have the right to seek employment and participate in economic activities.
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• Livelihoods – assistance
  
  Internally displaced people have the right to social security. When they are unable to secure for themselves the standard of living adequate for their health and well-being they have the right to seek and receive assistance.
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• Property
  
  Internally displaced people’s property and possessions should be protected from destruction, appropriation or illegal occupation.
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• Return and other durable solutions
  
  Internally displaced people have the right to free movement and to choose their residence, and are entitled to choose between three durable solutions which should be open to them, namely return, local integration or resettlement in another part of the country.
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• Gali returnees – security in areas of return
  
  It is a responsibility of competent authorities to establish conditions conducive to return and to ensure that the process of return is voluntary, which presupposes an informed decision.
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• Gali returnees – living conditions in areas of return
  
  Sustainability of returns, in addition to security, depends also on returnees being able to live a decent life in areas of return without facing discrimination.
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• Relations with host communities
  
  Internal displacement also often puts a heavy burden on certain groups of non-displaced people, most often family members and local or host communities.
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• Need for peace and reconciliation
  
  The importance of the involvement and participation of IDPs in efforts to bring about lasting peace cannot be overestimated.
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• Participation
  
  People have the right to participate in community and public affairs, including governmental affairs, either directly or through representatives.
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• Traditions
  
  People have the right to observe and practice their religions and beliefs and enjoy their cultures.
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