The government keeps in secret the process of humanitarian aid distribution.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

According to the September 6 information of the Georgian Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation amount of IDPs now living in Tbilisi is 39,596, in regions – 21,776 and their total number is 61,372. Four hundred shelters have been set up in Tbilisi; 118 in regions and 518 in total. By August 22, 121,167 IDPs were registered from Tskhinvali district and Shida Kartli region. 22,576 people lived in 670 shelters in Tbilisi; 89 shelters operating in the regions. The majority of IDPs are living with their relatives. Despite the huge amount of humanitarian aid, most IDP families could not get bread and sanitary items. Non-governmental organizations are not allowed to monitor the distribution of humanitarian aid.

According to the official information IDPs are supplied with food products, clothes and other necessary items not only by international organizations but also by various states, the Georgian government and private companies.

The EU apportioned 6 million Euro to Georgia to assist the victims of the war. Lei Lishel, European Commissar, reported that the apportioned money should be spent on food products and medical assistance for the IDPs from the conflict zone.
Nearly one million USD was apportioned for IDPs by the Japanese Government; the same was done by Poland, Lithuania, Iran and other countries. Businessmen from Iran transferred other amounts to special bank accounts that were opened for IDPs.

The UN is currently making efforts to collect 57 million USD to assist Georgia. Robert Watkins, the UN coordinator in Georgia, stated that the sums received from donors will fill the funds already collected by Georgian authority and international organizations.

“At this time the most urgent problem for Georgia is assistance to people who are still living in the conflict zone, as well as IDPs outsides the zone. The first step is to supply IDPs with food and to provide social assistance. The assistance can be provided for 128,700 people and it will last for 6 months,” said Watkins.

Ukraine will apportion 11 million USD to Georgia. The decision to provide financial assistance to Georgia was made at a special meeting with the Ukrainian Government that was organized by President Vikto Iuschenko. In addition, it was decided that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry would apply to the Georgian Embassy to control reasonable expenditure of the apportioned money.

The Georgian Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation reported that within the World Food Program, each IDP residing in collective centers in Tbilisi is provided with the following food once in ten days- 1, 5 kilos of macaroni, 500 grams of beans, 300 grams of sugar, 300 grams of cooking oil, 50 grams of salt and 500 grams of cookies.

Money was also allocated from the budgets of municipality boards to supply IDPs with food.

District governors ordered employees of the state and budget-funded institutions to collect money to assist IDPs. However, the collected money was not officially registered. Based on oral orders of the governors special HQs were also established in regions where local entrepreneurs and farmers were members. They were ordered to collect money.

Despite the huge amount of humanitarian aid available or pledged, there are still many IDP families have not received bread and basic sanitary items. IDPs living with their relatives and friends in regions cope with more difficult problems than IDPs who live in collective shelters. By August 25 the number of IDPs in Kakheti reached 10,000, but based on the data presented on September 6 their number is less than 2,000.

“We left our village when Russian planes started bombing Gori. Our trip was long and difficult; Russian soldiers and armed people of unidentified origin were chasing us. We walked through forests till Mtskheta and it took two days; during that period our children were starving. From Tbilisi we went to Sighnaghi to my relatives and settled here. 17 people lived in one room. Adults and old people sleep on the floor but we should not complain about it. After a long quarrel we were registered at the municipality board but we have not received anything more than several kilos of wheat and cooking oil. We are hungry. When it was reported on the radio that local authorities were providing assistance to IDPs, my wife and daughter in-law immediately went to the local administration. However, they did not get any proper answer from officials there and went back,” said Tamaz Muradashvili, a resident of the village of Karaleti in Gori district.

On August 22, the Human Rights Center officially requested local governmental bodies to provide information on the level and kind of assistance being provided to IDPs, and to share information as to whether or not sums have been or continue to be allocated from the local budget to aid IDPs, and just how much. In addition, when and where the money went, and just what kind of humanitarian aid was actually distributed in the regions and from which organization it was suppose to have been provided. Also, the name of the person that is responsible for monitoring the distribution of the aid, and what is the schedule of its eventual distribution.

Although based on current legislation, the requested information is public available and must be immediately released, this is not always the case. The administration of Kakheti regional governor and municipality boards has not issued the information yet and this is expected to be slow in coming, if it will be provided at all.

“We have much information to prove that the goods purchased for the assistance of IDPs are not being properly distributed. Thus we are tried to get permission to monitor the process but representatives of the organization are not allowed. Despite our written and oral requests to the government neither Kakheti regional administration nor HQs and municipality boards released the requested information. Zaza Zedelashvili, Sighnaghi district governor, did not say how much money was apportioned from the local budget and where he spent the state money. Nevertheless, the IDPs sheltering at the relatives in Kakheti complain that nobody cares about them and how they are going hungry,” said Lia Khuroshvili, lawyer working for the Human Rights Centre.