No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The Impact of Socially Ir/responsible Resettlement on the Livelihoods of Internally Displaced Persons in Georgia
Abstract
This article is a response to the disappointing results of the policies adopted by the Government of Georgia, aiming to provide
a durable housing solution and aspiring to enhance the livelihood opportunities of the population displaced during the territorial
conflicts of the early 1990s and 2008. The study finds that while the policies partially provided the displaced with housing
and land, they eroded probably their most important asset – labour – by resettling them in remote rural areas, where employment
opportunities are scarce, if there are any at all. The article distinguishes between the “new” internally displaced persons
from 2008 and the “old” or previous internally displaced persons from the early 1990s. It argues that the Government should
not deal with their problems in a “one size fits all” manner, but it should rather tailor resettlement policies to the internally
displaced persons’ existing asset-base and their location.
... Existing resarch has demonstrated the hardships that IDPs face in their protracted conditions, including: social and economic integration (Conciliation Resources 2009;Seguin et al. 2016;Young and Jacobsen 2013); health issues (Kim, Torbay, and Lawry 2007;Singh et al. 2016;Singh et al. 2018); poor educational performance (Loughna, Bregvadze, and Partskhaladze 2010); tenure insecurity (Williams 2011); and inadequate housing (Albuja et al. 2014;IDMC and Brookings-LSE 2013). Despite the large presence of IDPs in urban areas the world over, issues related to their livelihood have rarely been discussed using concepts from the field of urban studies (Aysa-Lastra 2011; Kabachnik et al. 2014, notable exceptions: Kabachnik, Regulska, andMitchneck 2010;Kurshitashvili 2012;Mackie et al. 2017;Young and Jacobsen 2013). For example, although IDPs are often a vulnerable, socio-economically disadvantaged population living in concentrated settlements of poverty, Ellen and Turner's (1997) concept of "neighbourhood effects," from urban studiesand dealing directly with such conditionshas never been applied to them. ...
... Research on neighbourhood effects has shown that physical and social isolation can exacerbate the problems present in particular neighbourhoods (Brännström 2012;Buck 2001;Hedberg and Tammaru 2012;Pinkster 2012;Van Ham and Manley 2009). With regards to Georgia specifically, Kurshitashvili's (2012) work is a rare example demonstrating how IDP economic prosperity has been seriously restricted as a result of their select resettlement into concentrated remote rural areas in 2008. Complementing her researchand overall working toward a better understanding of IDP issues from an urban studies perspectivethe current article aims to show how the neighbourhood effects of Georgia's IDPs residing in collective centres has borne significant community impacts. ...
... Other IDPs complained that when they arrived at their collective centre, any adjacent vacant land was already being used by other IDPs so they were unable to get a small share of land for their own agricultural purposes (Figure 4). Over time, ad hoc building transformations have led to the physical deterioration of collective centres, and in some instances have even caused structural building failures (Kurshitashvili 2012;Public Defender of Georgia 2010). These poor living conditions were reflected in our survey data through the high levels of IDP dissatisfaction with their residential environments; only 20% expressed that they found their current dwelling "very convenient" or "convenient." ...
Since 1991, armed conflicts in regions of Georgia have forced over 300,000 people to become internally displaced persons (IDPs). Many settled on the outskirts of cities in state-provided, non-residential buildings called collective centres, which function as distinct neighbourhoods with their spatial segregation and community networks. This article charts the impacts of social and spatial insularity on IDPs in these centres and frames it within the concept of neighbourhood effects. Research on neighbourhood effects has shown that physical and social isolation can exacerbate issues of health, education, living conditions, and employment, present in particular areas. Although IDPs are a vulnerable, socio-economically disadvantagedpopulation often living in concentrated poverty, to date this concept has not been applied to their conditions. This article addresses that gap by examining the neighbourhood effects of collective centres. The work provides a meta-analysis of existing research on Georgian IDPs and complements it with two years of first-hand data collected through a representative survey. The results show that IDPs within Georgia are at multiple disadvantages as a result of their isolation in collective centres. The article concludes with a call for greater government consideration of IDP isolation in situations of protracted conflict, so as to resist such detrimental effects.
... In New Gediz, Turkey, Oliver-Smith (1991) noted the attraction communities had towards services not available at their old sites. In-home services such as electricity, clean water, and sanitation, along with community services such as education and healthcare facilities, roads, and transportation are all credited with encouraging people to live permanently at the resettlement site (Hong et al., 2009;Kurshitashvili, 2012;Usamah & Hayes, 2012). Hong et al. (2009) acknowledged that the provision of services could not only entice communities to new sites, but also improve the quality of life for those being resettled. ...
... Income restoration. Research has shown that the need to develop and secure livelihoods following resettlement is equally as important as the need to provide housing (Arnall, 2014;Kurshitashvili, 2012). Strategies for reviving livelihoods include micro-finance schemes (Usamah & Hayes, 2012) and income diversification to better secure food sources and standards of living (DaCosta & Turner, 2007). ...
The severity of climatic changes threatening urban coastal areas is introducing and intensifying environmental hazards that are endangering physical safety and livelihood security. This paper considers retreat, one of three broad adaptation options proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as a possible climate change adaptation strategy for low-income communities in less developed nations. Resettlement as climate change adaptation is a developing concept, with minimal guidelines and academic literature on the topic. Thus, this review expands beyond climate change, considering three literature themes surrounding resettlement: (1) climate change, (2) hazard and natural disasters (i.e. floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes), and (3) economic development (i.e. dam construction and natural resource extraction). The
review extracts successful resettlement planning and approaches, as well as the lessons learned, to identify
five principles for resettlement in a climate change context: Proactivity, Communication and Participation, Permanence, Compensation, and Livelihood Protection. The results of the analysis suggest five principles that can be used as a guideline for implementing resettlement as climate change adaptation for low-income and informal communities in less developed nations. Ultimately, these recommendations can be used to assess the appropriateness and feasibility of employing resettlement as managed retreat in less developed nations.
... Misha [President Saak'ashvili] says we should use our hands, but what can we do when there is nothing to do?" Marika raises an important critique of the now ubiquitous neoliberal discourses of individualism and of learning how to help oneself, asking what they should "help themselves" to when employment opportunities are scarce. Like the majority of IDPs with whom I worked, Marika feels that her life is limited by her reliance on state allowances which, without reliable information about fluctuating IDP rights or sustainable educational and employment opportunities, can never support social integration (Kurshitashvili 2012). ...
... Thus, the Georgian case lays bare how displacement and its interventions operate as a mode of sanctioned abandonment, fueled by IDPs' entanglement in state plans for social service distribution, and that makes it virtually impossible for them to fulfill NGO and governmental expectations for achieving social mobility and integration (Kurshitashvili 2012). The lives and struggles of those displaced by civil wars in Georgia in the 1990s tell a bigger story about how changing state plans to assist IDPs sustain their vulnerability, paradoxically locking them in a constantly shifting maze of policies for social services, housing relocation, and medical insurance. ...
This article focuses on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in post-Soviet Georgia to examine lived experiences with protracted displacement and marginalization. I draw on ethnographic research that I conducted in summers 2010 and 2011 with IDPs living in western Georgia who were displaced by civil war between Georgia and Abkhazia in 1993 who have been living in limbo since then. I focus on their efforts to navigate changing state strategies for housing relocation and to secure their new "rights" to durable housing. Using Ian Hacking's concept of "making up people," I argue that the lives of IDPs living in protracted displacement in Georgia are "made up" by a form of sanctioned abandonment that cements their structural vulnerability, making it virtually impossible for them to fulfill the neoliberal expectations of the government and NGOs in achieving social mobility.
... The majority of people there are called new internally displaced persons, as they were displaced 147 during the August war of 2008. 148 Tbilisi is home to more than half of the whole community of internally displaced persons in 149 Georgia, as the capital offers better economic and social opportunities for them, such as 150 employment, education, health care, and housing (Salukvadze et al. 2013;Kurshitashvili 2012;151 Kabachnik et al. 2014;Lundgren 2016). Overall, according to the latest official records, among 152 the registered 273,411 internally displaced persons, 105,956 live in Tbilisi;87,17,512 in Shida Kartli;and 11,196 There is no comparison between pre-displacement and post-displacement conditions. ...
From the early 1990s through the 2008 “Russo-Georgian war,” waves of armed conflicts in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia/Tskhinvali regions of Georgia forced thousands of residents, mainly ethnic Georgians, to leave their homes. More than two decades of protracted internal displacement, marked by tough economic and social problems, led this vulnerable community to a common trap in reckoning with the past: an overwhelming sense of the fundamental ruptures between the idealized past and current, miserable reality. Failures of the displacement policy and “side effects” of numerous humanitarian aid projects hinder internally displaced persons’ social integration and leave them on the margins of Georgian society with almost a singular option: to constantly recall meaningful life in the lost homeland, which they remember as free of ethnic phobias and economic problems. In this article, we suggest that for persons who are internally displaced, memories are defined not only by their past lived experiences and present hardships, but also by the official historical narratives that argue that Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian “endemic” unity and cohabitation was destroyed by Russian imperial politics. Living in constant pain also narrows the future expectations of the internally displaced persons. However, it is the past and the memories that are supposed to be useful in achieving the utopian dream of a return.
... Resettled IDPs were offered accommodations in the regions -often in remote locations with lesser economic opportunities, limited or insufficient access to infrastructure and resources (Public Defender of Georgia, 21 January 2011) -or, in the best cases, in the outskirts of the capital city. For those IDPs who were resettled from Tbilisi to other regions, vulnerability linked to housing conditions decreased, but socio-economic vulnerability increased considerably (Amnesty International 2011; Kurshitashvili 2012). Resettled IDPs had to quit their job or endure commuting costs, and rebuild their lives and social networks in a new community. ...
This article studies collective action and political mobilisation of Georgian internally displaced persons (IDPs). It focuses on IDPs’ responses to a controversial housing policy implemented as of 2010 by the Georgian government, which mandated resettlement of IDPs from collective centres to private accommodations. Building on relative deprivation theories, the article pinpoints and analyses four types of responses shown by IDPs in the aftermath of resettlement. Finally, it provides an assessment of the obstacles faced by IDPs’ in their collective and political action, and recommendations for policy developments. This exploratory study is based on qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews conducted in Tbilisi among IDPs from Abkhazia.
... Whether the lives of IDPs improve is predicated on the Georgian government adopting a broader conception of integration. As Mitchneck et al. (2009) demonstrate, the government focus on moving IDPs into private accommodation, without attention to further social and economic integration, will not be enough to integrate IDPs (see also Kurshitashvili, 2012). In addition to the provision of adequate housing, employment and income-generating activities need to be prioritized in order to diminish insecurity. ...
... These buildings accommodate hundreds of IDPs in miserable conditions; the number of which was around 1,600 a decade after the conflicts (Walicki, 2012: 1). Over the years the quality of the dwellings and the residential environment dramatically degraded (Walicki, 2012;Kurshitashvili, 2012). The settlements located on the outskirts of the city, poorly served by public transport, created varying degrees of isolation excluding IDPs from local people, basic amenities, employment and municipal services. ...
The issue of forced displacement has been one of the distinctive features of Georgian cities over the last two decades since regaining independence. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) emerged as a separate vulnerable group due to violent ethno-political conflicts in the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Owing to the lack of housing options a considerable number of IDPs were forced to settle collectively in non-residential buildings. Inappropriate for long-term living purposes and largely concentrated in urban fringe, their residential environment has fostered physical isolation, alienation and spatial segregation.
The Government of Georgia bears legal responsibility for handling IDP problems. In 2007, state efforts were relatively weak and largely unclear before the State Strategy and Action Plan were adopted, covering all IDPs and aimed mainly at housing provision, promoting socio-economic integration and creating conditions for the dignified and safe return of IDPs to their original place of residence. This article has two aims: first, to present the specific phenomenon of internal displacement, specifically IDPs living in cities, and the difficulties faced by them drawing on the nationwide representative survey; and second, to discuss aspects of the State Strategy dealing with the housing issue.
The Georgian–Abkhazian war in 1992–1993 caused the forced displacement of around half of the population of the former autonomous Abkhazian republic. Over 200,000 of them were ethnic Georgians, out of whom at least 46,000 have returned mainly to southern Abkhazia. Abkhazia today functions as a de facto independent state, and the Russian–Abkhazian border control along the administrative boundary line between Abkhazia and Georgia poses an obstacle to young people from returnee families who are studying in Georgia proper and want to visit their families in Abkhazia. This study focuses on young migrants navigating the consequences of war and ethnic conflict on human mobility in the border area. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and five in-depth qualitative interviews with young people aged 18–25 years, the aim is to examine the strategies and practices that the young respondents employ to cross the border. To reach their homes in Abkhazia they need to navigate through riskscapes—landscapes or physical settings embedded with multiple layers of risk. Depending on their social positions (gender, ethnicity, citizenship, age) different riskscapes are unfolded. To handle riskscapes these young people adopt preventive measures; they change routes and behavior.
Anotace
Tato bakalářská práce je kvalitativní studií zabývající se změnami způsobenými válkou v Jižní Osetii v srpnu 2008 v kontextu vnitřně přesídlených osob. Jejím cílem je zjistit jaké změny vnímají gruzínští IDPs ve svých životech po tomto konfliktu. Teoretická část práce popisuje pozadí konfliktů v Gruzii, obecné pojetí vnitřně přesídlených osob a charakteristiku těchto osob na území Gruzie. Dále se zabývá obecnými změnami, kterým IDPs v důsledku toho konfliktu musí čelit. Jedná se například o ztrátu majetku a živobytí, neadekvátní bytové podmínky, nezaměstnanost, zdraví a další. Výzkumná část zjišťuje konkrétní změny, které IDPs vnímají ve svých životech po válce.
Klíčová slova: Vnitřně přesídlené osoby, IDPs, Gruzie, konflikt, Jižní Osetie, dopady války, vysídlení, bydlení, nezaměstnanost, zdraví, psychická pohoda, majetek a živobytí
Abstract
This bachelor thesis is qualitative study dealing with changes caused by the war in South Ossetia in August 2008 in the context of internally displaced persons. Its aims is to find out what changes they perceive in their lives after this conflict. Theoretical part of the work describes background of conflicts in Georgia, then general concept of internally displaced persons and the characteristics of those persons on the territory of Georgia. Additionally, deals with general changes which IDPs as a result of the conflict have to face up such as loss of property and livelihood, inadequate housing condition, unemployment, health et cetera. The qaulitative part recognises particular changes that they perceive in their lives after war.
Key words: Internally displaced perosons, IDPs, Georgia, conflict, South Ossetia, impacts of war, displacement, housing, unemployment, health, social well-being, property and livelihood
Studies on the displaced have begun to examine the critical role of place and home. We seek to illustrate how Georgian IDPs
from Abkhazia conceptualize home. Georgian IDPs are experiencing what we term a ‘double displacement’, spatially and temporally.
We identify ‘home as journey’ as the dominant way they imagine home, as they situate home in the past and the future. However,
IDPs construct and reproduce the past and future senses of home through various home-making practices that occur within the
context of the current places where they reside. By drawing from 118 in-depth interviews with IDPs, conducted in 2007, we
are able to provide insight into how home is imagined and re-imagined under conditions of displacement.
Access to water and land resources underpins the socio-economic fabric of many societies in the Southern Africa region, which is characterized broadly as underdeveloped with widespread food insecurity, exacerbated by persistent droughts, erratic rainfalls and increasing human populations. The availability of land and water resources is increasingly diminishing and becoming a stumbling block to the development of the agrarian societies in the region. The poor households have in turn adopted new livelihood coping mechanisms but little research has been done to assess the effectiveness of these ‘instruments’. Consequently, the concepts of sustainable water resources management and agricultural development have remained elusive and poorly understood by policy makers as well as by water resources planners and managers. Recognizing this, a study was conducted between 2002 and 2005 under the RIPARWIN (Raising Irrigation Productivity and Releasing Water for Intersectoral Needs) project to assess the spatial dynamics of livelihood capital, vulnerability and coping strategies for the poor agrarian households in the Upper Great Ruaha River Catchment (GRRC) in Tanzania. The results of analysis showed an array of livelihood platforms and institutional contexts that act to shape the existing livelihood typologies in the GRRC. In addition, the results showed a gradual increase in household vulnerability from upstream to downstream, particularly in terms of access to physical and natural assets. Vulnerability was found to be directly associated with the number of dependants. The female-headed households were relatively more likely to be vulnerable than the male-headed households (cf. probabilities of 27% and 21%, respectively). The value of collective arrangements and drawing on social networks crosscut all social strata and ranked as the most common livelihood strategy. This suggests that the scope for reducing vulnerability among the poor households in the GRRC critically depends on the existing institutional arrangements and mechanisms. Of paramount importance is perhaps the need to facilitate the establishment and empowerment of water use associations and apex bodies. In the study area, this appears to be promising enough to build ‘strong’ institutional platforms through which water and land resources would be managed sustainably.
The Caucasus is one of the most troubled hotspots in the world, with the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict already lasting seven years. In conflict between 1992 and 1998, more than 100,000 people have been displaced to western Georgia, many of them twice. The paper examines the way this exile has severely affected their gender roles in production activities, with the collapse of the Soviet Union exacerbating the situation. Displaced women have increasingly become main household income earners working in petty trade and agriculture, while displaced men have a reduced role and an apathetic response to the situation. The paper examines the main food sources, concluding that there is no lack of food availability or food access, and highlighting the importance of the kinship network between the host and displaced community. Finally guidelines for future programmes are suggested, with a recommendation to include projects targeting men.
In most treatments of social justice, little consideration is given to spatial concerns. However, it is increasingly evident that spatial or territorial factors play a major role in determining life chances and in helping to deliver social inclusion. This paper considers the key theoretical issues that underpin the spatial dimension of social justice. From this, the paper progresses to examining the factors that have influenced the introduction of sociospatial development as a component part of the adoption of the sustainable development paradigm. Illustrations are provided of the outcome of this new model including the construction of the European Spatial Development Perspective and the introduction of Community Planning in Scotland. A final section looks forward to the wider adoption of a sociospatial approach to policy development and implementation.
Persons displaced by armed conflicts, natural disasters or other events are at increased risk for health problems. The Republic of Georgia has a substantial population of internally displaced women who may face elevated risks of STIs and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
The 1999 Georgia Reproductive Health Survey was used to examine the prevalence of self-reported STI and PID diagnoses among displaced and nondisplaced sexually experienced women. Multivariate analyses were conducted to determine whether displacement is associated with STI and PID risk, and whether the behavioral and socioeconomic factors associated with these diagnoses differ between internally displaced women and the general population.
In models that controlled for behavioral factors only, displacement was associated with elevated odds of PID diagnosis (odds ratio, 1.3), but the relationship was only marginally significant when socioeconomic factors were added (1.3). Displacement was not associated with STI diagnosis. The factors associated with STI and PID diagnoses among displaced women generally differed from those in the general population, but access to medical care and previous STI diagnosis were associated with PID diagnosis in both groups. Among nondisplaced women, residing in the capital city was associated with increased odds of STI diagnosis (2.2) but reduced odds of PID diagnosis (0.8).
These findings highlight the importance of displacement status in determining a woman's reproductive health risks, and underscore the complex relationships between behavioral and socioeconomic variables and the elevation of STI and PID risk.
Georgia: IDP evictions Continue Georgia: Planned Evictions Reignite Debate Over IDP Rights
- G M Lomsadze
- Corso
" IDP eviction resumes " ; G. Lomsadze, " Georgia: IDP evictions Continue ", Eurasianet, 21 Jan. 2011, available at: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/62746 (last visited 15 Jan. 2012); M. Corso, " Georgia: Planned
Evictions Reignite Debate Over IDP Rights ", Eurasianet, 19 Jan. 2011, available at: http://www.eurasianet
.org/node/62734 (last visited 15 Jan. 2012).
Involuntary Resettlement in Development Projects: Policy Guidelines in World Bank-Financed Projects
- Cernea
Cernea, Involuntary Resettlement in Development Projects: Policy Guidelines in World Bank-Financed
Projects, World Bank Technical Paper 80, 1988, available at: http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/toolkits/
highways/pdf/91.pdf (last visited 15 Jan. 2012).
Health Affects of Displacement in Post-war Georgia
- E Koch
E. Koch, Health Affects of Displacement in Post-war Georgia, Scholar Research Brief, Washington, DC, Irex,
2009, available at: http://www.irex.org/system/files/0910-Koch.pdf (last visited 15 Jan. 2012).
Baseline Survey of the IDP Settlements and their Neighbouring Communities in Kvemo Kartli and Shida Kartli, Tbilisi, Care International
- Unicef Fao
- Wfp
- Conflict
FAO, UNICEF & WFP, Conflict-affected Persons in Georgia; GeoWel Research (GeoWel) and Caucasus
Research Resource Center (CRRC), Baseline Survey of the IDP Settlements and their Neighbouring
Communities in Kvemo Kartli and Shida Kartli, Tbilisi, Care International, 2009, available at: http://www
.geowel.org/index.php?article_id¼37&clang¼0 (last visited 15 Jan. 2012).
Conflict-affected Persons in Georgia
- Unicef Fao
- Wfp
FAO, UNICEF & WFP, Conflict-affected Persons in Georgia, 15-16.