Human rights in Abkhazia

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Human rights in Abkhazia are described in Chapter II of its Constitution, which says Abkhazia aims to follow the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core international rights treaties (ICCPR and ICESCR).

Abkhazia is not a member of the United Nations and is not a party to UN human rights treaties. The international community does not universally recognize its independence from Georgia.

Freedom House labeled Abkhazia partly free in its 2009 report, noting corruption, problems in the legal system, and the unresolved Georgian refugee issue as the main human rights concerns.

In the 1990s, ethnic cleansing of Georgians occurred in Abkhazia, and many Georgians remain displaced.

A Human Rights Commissioner exists under the President (listed as Gueorgui Otyrba in 2008). The UN established the Human Rights Office for Abkhazia, Georgia (HROAG) in 1996 to protect and promote rights there.

There are several independent newspapers and one independent SOMA radio station; electronic media are partly controlled by the state.

In September 2009, journalist Anton Krivenyuk was given a three-year suspended prison sentence for libeling President Sergei Bagapsh after criticizing a decision to hand over control of the Abkhazian railway to Russia. This case was seen by some as a crackdown on independent media before the presidential election.

The constitution allows only Abkhaz ethnicity to be President (Article 49). In some translations the term Abkhazian nationality is used; elsewhere, the text refers to citizens of the Republic of Abkhazia.

In 2016, the killing of ethnic Georgian Giga Otkhozoria by Abkhaz border guards drew international attention to the rights of ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia, especially in the Gali district, where most residents are ethnic Georgians. Reports describe discrimination and problems with political and civil rights and with police conduct.