Georgia
Problem statement
Georgia is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) because of complex and interlocking past and recent armed conflicts over the breakaway areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. More than 2.3 square kilometres of land is still contaminated by mines and ERW (territories controlled by Georgian central government) where over 344,000 people live. Until today, over 1,307 mine and ERW victims have been identified by the nation-wide survey.
In addition, Georgia inherited a notable stockpile of munitions from the Soviet Union due to its strategic geographic location. They range from small arms and light weapons, artillery and mortar projectiles, to aircraft rockets and missiles. Outdated, unserviceable and hazardous for storage ammunition pose a serious threat to human security due to potential inadequate storage conditions and expired shelf life. These factors could result in unplanned explosions at munition sites or smuggling and so the willingness of Georgian authorities to solve the issues in a sustainable way is greatly encouraged.
What we do
Victim Assistance
ITF supported a three-year long project »Socio-Economic Reintegration Program for Mine Victims in Geogria« from 2012 to 2015. The program purpose was to contribute to socio-economic integration and empowerment of people with disabilities (PWDs), specifically mine victims and their families. In 2017, ITF signed an agreement on the Handover of the Revolving fund and continuation of three years’ micro-credit program in the framework of the previous mentioned programe with »FinAgro«. In 2017, 14 loans were provided to the mine victims in 4 regions of Georgia. The project will finish on 31 December 2019.
Capacity Building
Since 2004, ITF focused on capacity building through training aimed at educating the Georgian representatives in: disability and mine victim assistance; mine action evaluation; mine action assessment; middle management training; and quality assurance and quality control. By educating Georgian representatives, ITF is trying to boost the creation of nationally owned capacities.
Physical security and stockpile management (PSSM)
In July 2021, ITF started with the project “Physical Security and Stockpile Management and Conventional Weapons Destruction in Georgia”. The project goal is to improve capacity to safely handle, manage, store and dispose of conventional weapons and ammunition. This aims to establish national capacities that will in the future allow sustainable and comprehensive disposal of outdated and dangerous for storage weapons and ammunition. This was achieved in May 2023 with the opening of the PSSM and CWD base, equiped with new facilities and machinery.
Destruction of Surplus Weapons and Ammunition
In July 2021, ITF started with the project “Physical Security and Stockpile Management and Conventional Weapons Destruction in Georgia”. The project goal is to reduce obsolete and /or hazardous conventional weapons and ammunition stockpiles (aircraft bombs and earmarked ammunition), as 1,500 tons of various types of ammunition are planned to be disposed through industrial demilitarization processes.
For more information on ITF’s past activities in Georgia, we welcome you to consult our Annual Reports, while for the plans in the forthcoming year please consider our Portfolio of Projects.