UN General Assembly
2007

of the morally repugnant politics of ethnic cleansing, division, violence and indifference. But we will not rest until justice is restored, until the rule of law is accessible to everybody. Today, I regret to say that signs of hope are few and far between. The story of Abkhazia, where up to 500,000 men, women, and children were forced to flee in the 1990s, is of particular relevance - one of the more abhorrent, horrible and yet forgotten ethnic cleansings of the twentieth century. In the time since Russian peacekeepers were deployed there, more than 2,000 Georgians have perished and a climate of fear has persisted. It is worth pausing to remember that today's Abkhazia is populated by less than 20 per cent of its pre-war population. It is an area with very fertile land, beautiful beaches, lovely resort areas and wonderful landscapes. Yet it is all deserted, houses have been destroyed, and signs of hopelessness, desperation and annihilation abound. The brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing uprooted ethnic Georgians, Armenians, Estonians, Greeks, Jews,