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YOUTH PEACE PLAN OF GEORGIA

This publication is produced within the framework of the project - ‘‘Support Democratic Participation of

Young Women in Building Peace and Stability in Georgia’’ implemented in Georgia by International Network

for Civil Development - INCD in partnership with Young Women Experts’ Network for Peace and Security

(YWEPS) and with the financial support of the Embassy of Canada through Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and the project participants and do not

necessarily reflect those of INCD and CFLI.

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior permission from INCD and CFLI;

however the source must be acknowledged.

Consultant/the author: Nino Lagvilava Ownership of the publication shall rest with INCD and YWEPS. This publication is available on the internet at: http://youngwomenexperts.blogspot.com/ This publication is also available in Georgian.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword ……………………………………………………………….…….3

Introduction ..................................................................4

Why Youth Peace Plan - Background to the context ........4

The goal and objectives of the Peace Plan …....................6

Strategic directions of the Peace Plan ..............................7

Political sphere ................................................................7 Education, Sport and Culture ............................................8 People-to-people Diplomacy............................................10 Economic direction .........................................................11

ICT development, Media and Social Networking ...............13

Environmental Issues ......................................................14 Health Care and Social Issues ...........................................14 Infrastructure .................................................................15

Conclusion ....................................................................16

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Administrative Boundary Lines ABLs

Confidence Building Measures CBMs

Internally Displaced Persons IDPs

Information and Communication Technologies ICT

National Action Plan NAP

Non-Governmental Organizations NGOs

People-to-People P2P

United Nations Security Council Resolution UNSCR

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FOREWARD

Peace and stability cannot be achieved without equal and democratic participation of women and

men in policy design and decision making process. Supporting equal participation of young women

and men in peace planning and strategy development may facilitate the increased dialogue and

reconciliation process among conflicting communities and help achieve peace and developmental

goals of the parties involved in conflicts.

The presented document is an attempt of Georgian young women and men from various parts of

Georgia including those areas bordering conflict divided lines and directly affected by armed

conflicts to create a plan for peacebuilding to help move forward rapprochement process with

their peers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Within the framework of the project -‘‘Support

Democratic Participation of Young Women in Building Peace and Stability in Georgia’’ which was

implemented in Georgia by International Network for Civil Development - INCD in partnership with

South Caucasus Young Women Experts’ Network for Peace and Security (YWEPS) and was financed

by the Embassy of Canada though Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), around 30 young women and

men came together to think how to build peace in their country and move on the reconciliation

process with their peers from Abkhazia and South Ossetia so that the existing conflicts are

mitigated though various confidence building measures and peaceful coexistent becomes plausible

and realistic.

The processes of the Peace Plan development was facilitated by Ms. Nino Lagvilava, expert in

Women, Peace and Security issues who also reviewed, edited and brought the document to final

shape. The document is available in Georgian and English languages; it is a living document open to

relevant ideas, comments, recommendations and observations from various stakeholders who

wish to enrich the document with their valuable inputs.

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Introduction

It is obvious that democracy cannot be built without equal participation and social activism;

neither peace and security and sustainable development is achievable if certain social groups

composing a considerable part of society are excluded from making policies and strategies the

implementation of which can lead to better peacebuilding and development processes.

It is also clear that the two groups of societal structure –youth and women are permanently

excluded from every process of security and peace policy design, conflict prevention, confidence

building and recovery matters. Moreover, their needs are often neglected in the process of

rehabilitation and resettlement, schooling and child care, employment and others, this way making

them more susceptible to illiteracy, unemployment or low paid jobs, various health problems,

exploitation, domestic violence. In order their voices are heard and their potentials utilized

adequately, the youth and especially young women should be invited to participate in every phases

of the country’s public life, especially at the decision making levels so that they are able to

influence gender sensitive policy making and implementation process.

The presented document is about youth peace plan which was created with the participation of

Georgian young women and men to advocate peacebuilding and reconciliation with Abkhazian and

South Ossetian peers. They are convinced that reestablishing trust and friendly relations with the

youth living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia of Georgia may bring common understanding of existing

problems and challenges and lead to creation of a common platform from where cooperation and

collaboration could be much feasible and reconciliation more viable. This in times may become

mutually and equally beneficial to all parties involved with the end-result to achieve lasting peace

and secure societies with established democratic institutions and sustainable development

perspectives.

Why Youth Peace Plan - Background to the Context

When the Soviet Union broke down in early 90s, Georgia faced civil unrests and two secessionist

wars which resulted in break-away regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 2008 a fragmented

war occurred between Russia and Georgia over the contended territory of South Ossetia again,

which resulted in thousands of displaced people and lost lives. Shortly, Russia recognized Abkhazia

and South Ossetia as independent republics, which recently has been followed by new bilateral

treaties between Russia and Abkhazia, the same agreement planned to be signed soon between

Russia and South Ossetia too.

In parallel to this the alienation between Georgians, Abkhazians and South Ossetians is deepening

in times and existing relations are fading away now more quickly as ever. It is high time that steady

steps are made not to lose old contacts and relations that may help bring back people’s trust and

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confidence so that all ethnicities living in one country are able to lead normal peaceful and stable

lives.

The role of youth - especially young women - in peace building is often overlooked; they are mainly

excluded from peace activities though they can be very well positioned in the post-conflict reality

as the agents and drivers for the peace processes as their relationships with post-war societal

structures are formed differently – they are not directly involved in wars and do not participate in

armed conflicts, thus are ready to build peace beyond prejudices.

In Georgia similarly, the youth and especially young women, and most notably, IDP girls and those

affected by conflicts are rarely involved in any peace processes be it policy design, strategy outline,

implementation and monitoring or decision making. Although some years ago youth NGOs were

effectively involved in the elaboration process of Youth Policy of Georgia1; however the Policy itself

never focused on the importance of the youth’s participation in peace and security domain.

Moreover, conflict resolution and peace building with Abkhazia and South Ossetia of Georgia has

never been considered as a topic of concern of the document inter alia. On the other hand, neither

the Strategy on Occupied Territory – Engagement Through Cooperation and its Action Plan2 which

represent one of the key state documents that deal with peace, reconciliation and confidence

building measures found any room to refer to the youth’s role in peacebuilding process, nothing to

say about their involvement in the process of the document’s elaboration. The only document that

speaks about women’s and young girls participation in peace building issues is the NAP on the

implementation of UNSCR 1325 and its follow up resolutions3, however irrespective many

international organizations’ efforts, the implementation of the provisions of the NAP face problems

and many activities still remain in the plan unimplemented among are support of young women’s

participation living across ABL in economic, social, environmental projects (point 1.4.1.); support

economic empowerment of IDP women and conflict affected women (point 4.3.1.; 4.3.3.) and

many others.

Young women and men are important peace agents; they can play the effective role in building

peace and security and contribute to conflict management if their participation in all peace

processes is supported and effectively promoted at all levels. Within a small project framework

1 The Georgian National Youth Policy Document; http://msy.gov.ge/files/Youth_Policy_(Engl)_Final_July_2014.pdf 2 State Strategy on Occupied Territories: Engagement Through Cooperation; http://www.government.gov.ge/files/225_31228_370287_SMR-Strategy-en.pdf

Action Plan for Engagement; http://www.government.gov.ge/files/225_31228_760402_action_plan_en.pdf

3 Resolution of the Georgian Parliament On approval of 2012-2015 National Action Plan for implementation of the UN

Security Council Resolutions ## 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960 on “Women, Peace and Security;

http://www.peacewomen.org/assets/file/georgia_napdec_27_2011.pdf

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around 30 young women and men have been invited to draft a strategy for increased involvement

and effective participation of youth in peace processes which included formulation of ideas on how

to build trust and confidence with the communities/ with young women and men at the other side

of conflict divide lines; how to come closer to their peers; how to attract their attention so that

they also open their hearts and become more interested to reestablish relations and involve in

joint projects, in planning and implementation. They start thinking about what path is better to

follow to establish cooperation with their Abkhaz and Ossetian peers so that rapprochement

becomes natural and friendly relations normal and all this opens up a possibility for wider and

intensive relations between the communities affected by armed conflicts in the country.

The youth peace plan is a framework document that reflects the Georgian young women and men

ideas and plans to attract the attention of their peers from Abkhazia and South Ossetia to build a

more peaceful and stable environment conducive to strengthened cooperation and joint ventures.

It is a live document which will be shared to all stakeholders who will be able to input their ideas,

comments, recommendations so that the document becomes richer, abundant, comprehensive

and possible to implement, every chapter therefore is followed by blank pages - a space to leave

comments and recommendations.

The Goal and Objectives of the Peace Plan

The goal of the document is to create a plan of peace between the young women and men from

both sides of conflict divided lines; It is the strategy outline of confidence building measures in

various fields and at various levels to attempt to build trust and push forward the reconciliation

process with young women and men from the break-away regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The objectives are many, among are developing joint projects and programs in the field of

economics, culture, education, sports and health, social sphere and many others and involve in the

implementation process Georgian, Abkhaz and Ossetian young women and men. Youth

engagement and participation in peacebuilding process should be supported at all level including

international, regional national and local levels.

As mentioned above, it is a living document, which will be shared with other groups of society,

with more youth representatives, civil society, government representatives, so that it is available to

everyone interested in these issues including youth representatives from Abkhazia and South

Ossetia and is open to more views and ideas which will make it a viable instrument for establishing

better implementation mechanism as well. The project participants think that Georgian

government and civil society should do their best in order to have this kind of documents in the

country as a guide to peacebuilding and reconciliation where young women’s and men’s specific

role is taken into consideration too. This document may be useful for other state peace documents

as well to integrate Georgian youth’s point of views on peacebuilding and reconciliation with break

-away regions. This initiative may become a part of larger peace initiatives, the implementation of

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which may help mitigate existing frozen conflicts and through various confidence building

measures achieve reconciliation and rapprochement so that peaceful coexistent becomes natural.

The young women and men who participated in the project believe that reestablishing trust and

friendly relations with their peers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia may bring common understanding

of existing problems and challenges and lead to creation of common platform from where

cooperation and collaboration would be much feasible and reconciliation inevitable. This in times

may become mutually and equally beneficial to all parties involved with end-result of achieving

lasting peace and secure societies with established democratic institutions and sustainable

development perspectives.

Strategic directions of the Peace Plan

It was agreed at the seminar that the document will follow the internationally acknowledged

tested methodology of building trust and confidence which slowly but gradually may harness the

confidence between conflict divided societies. It is believed that multilevel CBMs are the best to

utilize in this case when all actors, the state, the business and civil society are involved. The

following directions have been selected to work on for building confidence between the Georgian,

Abkhaz and Ossetian young women and men. These are the spheres where the youth has the most

interest and where they usually participate actively and enthusiastically.

Political sphere

The youth’s and especially young women’s participation at political decision making level is a vital

factor to hear the youth’s voice. Irrespective that at this stage it is denied from the Abkhazia and

South Ossetia to accept any offers about political decision on the status of Abkhazia and South

Ossetia and on cooperation at the political levels, it is quite possible that young politicians lobby

the government programs that will facilitate deepening relations and cooperation between young

women and men from both sides of conflict divided lines; they can think over more effective

rapprochement mechanism within their capacities, for e.g. Ministry of Youth and Sports of Georgia

can have its share in developing and implementing many interesting initiatives that will attract the

interest of young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia and make them more active

to participate in various joint projects. It is also possible to elaborate a holistic approach if in

partnership with donors and international organizations the Government of Georgia for e.g.

creates a special fund for the youth’s confidence building initiatives where various joint programs

and projects will be developed in the field of education and science; culture and sports and

recreation; health care and social issues; economic relations, trade and employment and many

other fields which would bring the Georgian, Abkhazian and Ossetian young people closer to each

other and give chance to them study and work together and think about future perspectives.

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It is clear that offering changes in political system such as form of decentralization/broader

autonomy, distribution of powers, sharing authorities and so on is not realistic at this current

moment because the Abkhazia and South Ossetia decision to stay independent; the reality is also

quite obvious for e.g. in Abkhazia related to citizenship issues when Georgians living in Abkhazia

and whose number is equal to 50 thousand, having both Georgian and Abkhazian passports are

now put against the dilemma, to choose either Abkhazian citizenship and stay in Abkhazia or turn

down their Georgian passports, which allows them to move freely on entire Georgian territory and

enjoy all the privileges that the Georgian Government offers them in terms of education, health

care and social issues. In this presented document many activities are directly linked to Georgian

Government's proposed preferential programs and projects. If the youth from Abkhazia were not

be able to move freely in any area of Georgia, then this peace plan would not be able to implement

fully; However, the projects participants hope that these administrative-legal issues soon will be

resolved and Georgian, Abkhaz and Ossetian young people will be able to jointly engage in many

interesting humanitarian and development programs and projects, which will contribute to

strengthened cooperation and rapprochement.

Irrespective many challenges and problems, the Georgian government should offer cooperation to

Abkhazia and South Ossetia at some level and though various mechanisms including the youth

confidence building plans and strategies. It can also cooperate on human rights, technology

development and democratic processes, such as sharing knowledge on democratization of

institutions; human rights protection; development of effective and viable civil society;

development of educational system of European standards; development of economic relations;

development of information and computer technologies; supporting preserving cultural heritage;

preserving native languages and ethnicity and many other issues where the youth from both sides

of ABL can participate equally and effectively contributing to improved relations and establishing

closer ties.

Education, Sport and Culture

Peaceful and Inclusive Education is estimated as the most important aspect for building confidence among the youth; Educational opportunities and exchange programs within the country and outside it will give an excellent opportunity to young women and men from both sides of ABL to study together and think together about various interesting or problematic issues.

- The government should invest more in formal and informal peace education which will diminish war rhetoric which is especially manifest in youth’s behaviour; these special programs at schools and beyond will increase a culture of dialogue and ability to handle conflicts peacefully; it is recommended that students at the universities can major in security studies and peace and conflict resolution issues and all students including those from Abkhazia and South Ossetia are able to study these programmes;

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- The Government should allocate special number of places at various universities of Georgia in various fields of studies, especially in peace and security studies, which will be fully financed (both tuition and living costs). This will inevitably attract the interest of young people from Abkhazia and South Ossetia to study in the universities of Tbilisi and other cities of Georgia;

- The Government should do so that the various educational grants including the President’s Grant is equally accessible the girls and boys who live in Abkhazia and South Ossetia;

- If there are not enough Governmental funds available for inviting Abkhazian and South Ossetian students to get education in Georgia proper, then a special educational fund which will be created in partnership with donors organizations and/or business should be created so that all students from Abkhazia and South Ossetian willing to study in Georgia proper are able to enroll any universities and faculties they would love to continue their studies – studying together with Georgian students in Georgian universities will help strengthen closer relationship and establish friendship;

- International students’ exchange programmes are very popular among young people; this should be also promoted and the access to the education abroad becomes easy to especially those students living beyond the conflict divided lines - they should be informed, be able to participate in educational fairs, get systematically the information online, be part of various exchange programmes and so on. The benefit from the international exchange programmes may double if the students from Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as the young people from Georgia proper participate in the same exchange programme, this will help increase contacts and communication; exchange of knowledge, interests and possibly new ideas on future cooperation;

- For unimpeded and effective mobility it would be appropriate the students from Abkazia

and South Ossetia who are involved in educational programmes both in Georgia and

abroad obtain a special travel document/ exchange programme students’ passport which

she or he can use when travelling within or outside Georgia;

- A special vocational training infrastructure should be created especially across ABL for vocational education, training and re-training so that more segment of youth, all girls and boys willing to get knowledge and skills in various necessary fields are covered in order to increase opportunities to work, to self-employ and get jobs. The infrastructure should be ready to accept conflict affected young women and men including students from Abkhazia and South Ossetia who should have all opportunities and conditions including grants to study and travel to participate in such educational activities;

- A special training programmes may be offered by business as well; The young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia may get on-job training in various businesses they express interest to improve their skills and this way improving their employability and capacity to create similar businesses in future;

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- Internship opportunities may be offered also both by Georgian government institutions as well as the business and civil organizations; This will increase their trust and credence to not only Georgian government institutions but to Georgian civil society and human beings;

- More libraries, cinema halls, spaces for exhibition, public areas for discussions should be opened especially across the conflict divided lines so that the youth from conflict affected areas and those beyond ABL are able to meet frequently, discuss various issues, read and review books and films, get to know and discuss new trends in literature, culture, art, etc.;

- Special free of charge Art Schools should be opened for Georgian as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia talented children and young people so that they together are able to study free of charge art, music, performing, etc. If they don’t speak Georgian, they should be given the opportunity to study in their native languages; this will increase number of participants and also the trust to the programs;

- Systematically organize youth concerts, youth theatres and operas, youth summer and winter camps, youth olympiads, where young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be invited and have opportunities to reveal their talents and also communicate with their Georgian peers with similar talents too. The youth representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia should have all opportunities including financial resources to participate in these events without any obstacles;

- Systematically organize joint sport events and competitions, sports camps and training spaces; The youth representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia should have all opportunities including financial resources to participate in these events without any obstacles.

People-to-People diplomacy

People-to-people diplomacy (P2P) is the number one mechanism among social confidence-building

measures which works effectively, especially among the youth.

- In order to cover more youth segments, it is important that the P2P initiatives involve

youth NGOs, women’s unions and organizations, other groups such as young academics,

young scientists, young journalists, young artists and religious leaders, young teachers and

doctors and other professional groups who can interact with their counterparts with similar

professional interests and encourage new approaches to reconciliation in order

systematically and effectively collaborate with each other;

- Inviting Georgian, Abkhazian and Ossetian students to joint cultural, sports, humanitarian

or social programs is also P2P diplomacy component; therefore these initiatives should be

promoted maximum way; the events may be organized in Georgia as well as in the third

countries to maintain neutrality.

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Economic direction

Among confidence building measures, economic relations are named as the most effective

mechanism for re-establishing ties.

- Supporting capacity building of youth in economic and business management and business

skills development; creating special educational infrastructure where Georgian, Abkhazian

and Ossetian young women and men will get together education and knowledge may help

increase their inter-communicability and willingness to do business together and boost

joint business initiatives.

- Tourism is one of the promising fields of economic development for entire Georgia and

Abkhazia especially. Youth tourism development will facilitate not only development of

tourism industry but establishing friendly and business relation between all parties

involved; joint interest, joint planning, exchange of experience and knowledge will help

establish business communication and more economic ties.

- Supporting small and medium business development with the participation of young

people, young women and men interested in cross-border trade, entrepreneurship, and

agribusiness development should be supported by Georgian special government program

which will offer different taxation regimes and provide soft credits to young people to help

develop joint ventures and joint business initiatives.

- For Georgia including Abkhazia and South Ossetia the agriculture is the field the most

number of the population is involved in, however not the youth - they try not to be part of

it. Though this is the sphere where Georgian, Abkhazian and Ossetian youth representatives

can find common language - if correctly taught and explained, if skills and resources

provided including access to land, agricultural inputs, access to financial resources, access

to knowledge and especially young women will be invited to participate in these initiatives,

the agricultural productivity of the country will increase, the employability of the youth will

increase simultaneously as well as trade and joint business activities;

- It is known to all that there is some cooperation going on especially in petty trade, where

mainly women are involved, so if free and unimpeded trade relations are supported

between Georgian, Abkhaz and Ossetian young women and men, this will boost business

relations and cooperation between them;

- In order the effective exchange of goods and services takes place and all societal groups

participate including young women and men, it is viable to create a special zone for trade or

even more, for entrepreneurship and production of various products which will boost the

young people’s workability, economic effectiveness; strengthened ties based on joint

ventures, joint economic entrepreneurship etc., which will lead to more stronger economic

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relations Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The approximate place for this type of economic zone

between Abkhazians and Georgians was identified by the project participants through

Google map – a vast non-populated area between two bordering villages –Ganmukhuri and

Nakargal was identified through Google map, which they think will be convenient for this

kind of business activities. Given the geographical proximity, for both Georgian and

Abkhazian population this place would be much handy and appropriate, they think. The

same can be said about South Ossetia. It has been mentioned many times by local

population that Ergneti (a small village) type of market was beneficial for all communities

across ABLs and the locals were advocating for reinvigorating this kind of trade activities. If

the youth are involved effectively in this kind of activities, they can play a pivotal role in

empowering the new type of economic zones.

The establishment of free economic zones across ABLs with both Abkhazia and South Ossetia is

expected to effectively strengthen economic ties and boost business connectivity. Young people’s

participation in joint economic projects, SME development, agricultural production and trade will

speed up cooperation and communication between the divided communities, which will lead to

reestablishing trust and confidence and stronger ties and better communication.

-

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ICT development, Media and Social Networking

Media has a strong role in building trust and confidence; it can break stereotypes and change

people’s attitudes. Georgia has an enemy image especially among the Youth of Abkhazian and

South Ossetia, who never had any relations with Georgians, never coexisted or cooperated with

them; therefore no surprise that they are estranged, especially at the background of anti-Georgian

propaganda. This is why Georgian media should double its work to break this stereotype and

change the negative attitudes of Ossetian and Abkhazian youth towards Georgia and Georgians.

Georgian young women and men can play an important role too to influence positively their

Ossetian and Abkhazian peers’ perceptions and use mass media effectively for that purpose.

- Georgian media should permanently deliver peace-oriented programmes in Abkhazian and

Ossetian languages and the broadcasting should cover both breakaway territories; These

programmes should involve young women and men in preparing the media themes and

also invite Abkhazian and Ossetian youth to participate in the programs.

- Internet resources and social media is the most effective way to reach out the youth in

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this instrument should be used effectively too and involve

young people in social media activity so that they are able to contact their peers from

Abkhazia and Ossetia and establish friendly and also working relationship;

- It is very important that internet communication and internet technologies are developed

not only in Georgia proper but in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions so that internet

connectivity gets better and young people are able to discuss online, negotiate, increase

the dialogue, plan together, analyse and so on. This mechanism may be used for leading

peace, security and development discource with participation of young women and men

which will push forward the reconciliation process for sure.

- The Georgian Government should create special computer literacy programme for those

young women and men living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, so that they get computer

knowledge free of charge, also free PCs. Through acquiring computer skills and knowledge,

Abkhazian and Ossetian youth will get better connectivity with their Georgian peers. The

internet communication and social media is extremely active in the entire territory of

Georgia so this instrument may play a decisive role to open up discussions and debates,

plan joint initiatives, learn from each other and so on.

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Environmental Issues

Common environmental challenges and environmental impact are the issues that may unite the

communities at both sides of ABL. The youth must be in the centre of all events to tackle these

challenges. The young women and men should participate in all joint initiatives to respond the

man-made or natural disasters that cause environmental hazards and risks.

- The youth environmental protection centre may be created to participate in environmental

risk assessment and management. Environmental impact of man-made (business activities

for e.g.) or natural disasters, such as pollution of sea, water, land, air, etc are common for

all communities living at both sides of conflict divided lines, so they should think together

how to manage these risks. Young generation with adequate knowledge and skills may be

of help here; they can a joint assessment as well as plan for joint activities to mitigate these

risks;

- Environmental education is an excellent mechanism for connecting young women and men

from both sides of ABLs, where they will be not only the recipients of this education but the

distributors of the knowledge and messages to their local communities of how to take care

of the nature they are living in and how to manage environmental risks and challenges. For

e.g. the uncontrolled forest cut or mining may cause land degradation and avalanches,

change the climate, etc. which may affect all communities irrespective of where they live.

Local young people can monitor these activities and negotiate with local business the

correct management of resources including planning, implementation and monitoring

aspects, this can be done by all youth representatives jointly.

The joint management of Enguri Hydroelectric Plant is an example how the communities who

are in conflict take care of common problems; these kind of activities should continue and

move on to other fields such as managing agricultural problems, sea, land and forest

protection, water management and others. The young women and men can effectively

participate in all these aspects if they get adequate knowledge and skills to manage

environmental issues that are common for all communities at both sides of ABL.

Health Care and Social Issues

Health care of younger generations should be a priority for all governments so no debate is

needed on whether the Georgian government should equally care about its young citizens in

Georgia proper as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is well known that Georgian

government is covering the health care of Georgian citizens living on the territory of Abkhazia

and South Ossetia, so this trend should be encouraged and the assistance increased so that

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Georgian citizens from Abkhazia and South Ossetia including youth is fully and equally able to

enjoy all benefits of this program.

- Conducive environment should be created so that young women and men from Abkhazia

and South Ossetia are able to refer to Georgian emergency services or respective doctors

and health care facilities for medical assistance without hindrance;

- Reproductive health care is an important issue which must be taught to all young people;

in addition they should have unimpeded access to free-of- charge reproductive health care.

The service centers should be established right at the ABLs so young people from Abkhazia

and South Ossetia can timely refer to the doctors in Georgia proper and get the relevant

medical services;

- Drug abuse is also one of the acute issues among the youth, similarly the educational

campaign is very important along with the provision of respective information about this

disease and all young people including young women and men from Abkhazia and South

Ossetia should be able to receive free of charge treatment and the consultation services.

Also other diseases such as HIV, STD, Hepatitis and others should be treated free of charge

and the related services also provided accordingly to all young people including the young

women and men from Abkhazian and South Ossetia;

- The young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia should have all social benefits

which are offered by Georgian government and the information about it should be spread

systematically in their native languages so that the young people from Abkhazia and South

Ossetia know about it and enjoy the benefits effectively.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure and transportation is an important mechanism for improved communication

especially when cooperation is being established and cultural and social ties get strengthened. If it

will be possible to arrange administrative and legal procedures in relations with dual citizenship or

people from Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions have longer visas to travel all over Georgia (keep

Georgian passports, keep dual citizenship, offer longer visas to Georgia proper to those with

Abkhazian or Russian passports etc.), then infrastructure projects will play a crucial role in the

rapprochement and confidence building process.

- Bridges and roads should be reconstructed/renovated across ABLs so that all children and

students including young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia can reach the

educational institutions without impediment;

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- Schools, sports facilities, cultural centres and health care institutions should be

rehabilitated and new ones built across ABLs so that all children and students including

young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia have equal opportunities to enjoy

all services provided by these facilities;

- Infrastructure for sanitation and hygiene should be also built especially at the conflict

divided lines to give respective knowledge to the all girls and boys including those from

Abkhazia and South Ossetia so that they all enjoy the benefits of this kind of infrastructure;

- School busses should be appointed with the license to cross the ABLs if necessary so that all

schoolchildren from both sides of conflict divided lines are able to attend the schools they

prefer to enroll and have all opportunity to get complete education.

- To improve trading and industrial relations, it would be very important to improve the

infrastructure, which is a precondition for achieving major economic developmental

projects.

Conclusion

The project participants believe that Georgia needs to take more vigorous steps to reunite its

communities divided by ethnic conflicts in order to reduce the possibility of its re-occurrence. The

project participants believe that the offered Peace Plan is not completed and this can be extended

to other interesting initiatives, therefore they leave the document open for more debate, more

contribution from various stakeholders, civil society, the Government, the international

organizations so that it becomes more comprehensive, more realistic and viable. This is the first

document of this kind which has been prepared by young women and men from various social

groups including IDPs and those young people who live in conflict affected areas. Their number is

not much but they believe that the amount will increase and embrace more youth representatives

from both sides of ABLs.

There is a long way left to complete this document and then start implementation; the Georgian

Government may consider it in its future strategy documents that regard peace and security issues

in the country - this will be a wonderful opportunity for this document to contribute to this

process. Young women and men from Abkhazia and South Ossetia should also participate in this

process as they may either reject the offered initiatives spelled out in the document or accept

them as the gesture of Georgian youth to reestablish trust and confidence. Based on friendship

and cooperation they will be able to live together in peace and stability and live abundant life and

give opportunity to each other to study, work and develop. This is the final objective of this

document, so that Georgian society and especially the youth is able to have another chance to live

in peace and enjoy living in democratic environment.

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For Comments and Recommendations ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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