Introduction

The domestic and foreign political situation created after the 2008 war has given rise to completely new concepts in the Georgian political field - de-occupation, occupied territories, a policy of non-recognition. The peace policy has developed in these directions, which was legally supported under the Law on the Occupied Territories. The August war, in addition to leaving the pain and tragedy inherent in the war to our peoples, changed the pre-existing peace rhetoric and shifted the narrative of the Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts entirely within the framework of Georgian-Russian conflict. The Georgian government has recognized on legal and political levels, that it has two occupied territories within its jurisdiction, in the form of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, and has made every effort to pursue a policy of strict non-recognition.

The reversal of the policy from a completely different perspective was conditioned by the recognition of occupied territories by the Russian Federation as independent states. After this event, Russia unequivocally came out from the position of so-called Negotiator, which it held since the 1990s in the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian peace processes and for Georgia, and consequently, for the international community, it has become an occupying force, while for Abkhazia and Tskhinvali a backbone, without which independent existence for these two regions would be at least very difficult.

This creates a feeling that Russia has "punished" Georgia for its anti-Russian and pro-Western policies. The law on the occupied territories turned out to be a retaliatory "punitive" measure for these regions, as the aim of the law, according to the new policy of non-recognition, is to isolate them from the rest of the world. Any kind of cooperation with them without the permission of the Georgian government has become a matter of political and legal responsibility. In fact, the law aims to constitute the existence under the sovereignty of Georgia as the only way of survival for occupied Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.

Exactly 12 years have passed since the adoption of the law. During this period, in parallel with the existence of the law, the Georgian government numerously attempted to offer new peace proposals to the illegal regimes in the occupied territories. However, as Thomas de Vaal writes, the “strange endurance of de-facto regimes” [1] left practically no space for such initiatives.  Along with the peace initiatives, the law on the occupied territories was becoming more humane as a result of gradual changes. However, it is debatable to what extent it created an opportunity for a positive transformation of the conflict and legal and humanitarian perspectives in the process. The purpose of this article is to analyze the stages of law development, its legal and humanitarian dimensions, and its place in a unified peace policy.

The article is prepared within the project “Supporting peaceful conflict transformation by strengthening the human rights discourse on the conflicts in Georgia" supported by the Heinrich Boll Foundation Tbilisi Office.