INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928
Website: www.icj-cij.org
Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2008/24
14 August 2008
Georgia submits a Request for the indication of provisional measures
THE HAGUE, 14 August 2008. To day, the Republic of Georgia submitted a request to the
International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principl judicial organ of the United Nations, for the
indication of provisional measures with regard to the proceedings instituted by Georgia against the
Russian Federation on 12 August 2008 (see Press Release 2008/23).
Georgia requests that the Court indicate provisional measures in order to preserve its
“rights... under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (“CERD”) to protect its citizens against violent discriminatory acts by Russian
armed forces, acting in concert with separatist militia and foreign mercenaries”.
In its request, Georgia reiterates its contention made in the Application that “beginning in the
early 1990s and acting in concert with separatist fo rces and mercenaries in the Georgian regions of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian Federati on has engaged in a systematic policy of ethnic
discrimination directed against the ethnic Georgian population and other groups in those regions”.
Georgia further states that “On 8 August 2008, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale
military invasion against Georgia in support of et hnic separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia”
and that this “military aggression has resulted in hun dreds of civilian deaths, extensive destruction
of civilian property, and the displacement of virtually the entire ethnic Georgian population in
South Ossetia”.
Georgia claims that “Despite the withdrawal of Georgian armed forces and the unilateral
declaration of a ceasefire, Russian military op erations continued beyo nd South Ossetia into
territories under Georgian government control”. Geor gia further claims that “the continuation of
these violent discriminatory acts constitutes an extremely urgent threat of irreparable harm to
Georgia’s rights under [the] CERD in dispute in this case”.
Georgia requests the Court “as a matter of utmost urgency to order the following measures to
protect its rights pending the determination of [the] case on the merits:
(a) the Russian Federation shall give full effect to its obligations under [the] CERD; - 2 -
(b) the Russian Federation shall immediately cease a nd desist from any and all conduct that could
result, directly or indirectly, in any form of ethnic discrimination by its armed forces, or other
organs, agents, and persons and entities exercisi ng elements of governmental authority, or
through separatist forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia under its direction and control, or in
territories under the occupation or effective control of Russian forces;
(c) the Russian Federation shall in particular immediately cease and desist from discriminatory
violations of the human rights of ethnic Georgians, including attacks against civilians and
civilian objects, murder, forced displacement, denial of humanitarian assistance, extensive
pillage and destruction of towns and villages, and any measures that would render permanent
the denial of the rights to return of IDPs, in South Ossetia and adjoining regions of Georgia,
and in Abkhazia and adjoining regions of Georgia, and any other territories under Russian
occupation or effective control”.
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The full text of the request for the indica tion of provisional measures will be available
shortly on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org).
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Information Department:
Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Messrs. Boris Heim and Maxime Schouppe, Information Officers (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Georgia submits a Request for the indication of provisional measures