Tag: Press Release

PRESS RELEASE : Truda Spruyt reappointed to the Theatres Trust Board

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

The Secretary of State has reappointed Truda Spruyt to the Theatres Trust Board for 3 years.

Truda Spruyt

Reappointed for a three-year term from 7 October 2022 until 6 October 2025.

Truda Spruyt is Managing director of the culture team at Four, where she heads up integrated, strategic campaigns for a number of cultural clients. She has almost 30 years’ experience in cultural communications, over 20 of them at Four. Clients that she works with include the Booker Prizes, the Baillie Gifford Prize, We Are Lewisham: London Borough of Culture, Jerwood Arts and StoryTrails, part of UNBOXED 2022. Key campaigns she has worked on include the Future Skills League table for Kingston University, highlighting the value of creative study and Centre Stage for the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, which led to the creation of Get Into Theatre.

Truda has extensive experience of managing complex multi-stakeholder projects and of directing strategic campaigns. She works with clients at senior level to define key messages, evaluate brand values and develop integrated communication strategies. Particular specialisms include thought leadership and cultural placemaking. Truda read English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge and was formerly Chair of the Philosophy Foundation.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Trustees of the Theatres Trust are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Truda Spruyt has not declared any significant political activity.

03/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Ray Macfarlane reappointed as the Scotland Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

The Prime Minister has reappointed Ray Macfarlane for a term of two years and six months, commencing 01 October 2022.

Ray Macfarlane

Ray Macfarlane is the Chairman of Museums Galleries Scotland having previously served as Chair of its Recognition Committee. That committee was established by Scottish Government to identify and support nationally important collections held by bodies other than the national museums and galleries.

Ray is also Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board and of the Hopetoun Foundation and is a Trustee of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Her other non-executive roles have included Trustee and Deputy Chairman of the National Galleries of Scotland and Trustee of its Foundation, Chair of Scottish Screen, Deputy Chair of the Scottish Arts Council, Chair of Home Scotland and Non– Executive Director of Home Group, one of the UK’s largest Housing Associations.

Ray graduated MA, LL.B, MBA from the University of Glasgow and began her career as a commercial solicitor in private practice. She moved on to senior management roles with Bank of Scotland where she was Group Head of Community Investment and Scottish Enterprise where she was the Managing Director responsible for 6 divisions covering Business Development, Sector Development. Training and Skills Development, Competitive Place (involving property development, environmental improvement, and land engineering) Inward Investment and Export Development.

Remuneration and Governance Code

The Scotland Trustee receives remuneration of £20,749 per annum. Ray Macfarlane was initially reappointed to a second term of six months and this reappointment is therefore to a third term.This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Ray Macfarlane has declared no such activity.

03/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Foreign criminals and illegal entrants to the UK removed to Albania

The press release issued by the Home Office on 2 September 2022.

Yesterday (Thursday 1 September) the UK government removed a total of 32 foreign criminals and immigration offenders on a charter flight to Albania.

Five individuals who entered the UK illegally were removed on yesterday’s flight, including one person who was removed in 24 days after arriving via small boat in August.

Other individuals included a person who was removed 19 days after being caught by immigration officers working in a restaurant having overstayed as a visitor, and another who arrived hidden in a lorry from May.

The 27 foreign national offenders removed had received combined prison sentences of more than 87 years and were convicted of crimes including the supply of Class A drugs, facilitating illegal entry and sexual offences.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

This flight sends a clear message to those who flout our laws and immigration rules that you will be swiftly removed. Anyone who comes to our country in a small boat or other dangerous, illegal means should not expect to stay in the UK for long.

We are working closely with the Albanian government to tackle illegal immigration and have this week agreed our joint operational plans to expedite the removal of Albanians who enter the UK illegally via small boats.

Alongside measures in our Nationality and Borders Act, this will help end the cycle of last-minute claims and appeals that can delay removals. We will stop at nothing to remove those with no right to be here as the public rightly expects.

Foreign offenders returned on yesterday’s flight to Albania include:

an individual sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for intent to supply Class A drugs
an individual sentenced to over four years’ imprisonment for facilitating illegal entry
an individual sentenced to over seven years’ imprisonment for intent to supply Class A drugs
Yesterday’s flight is the 45th operated by the Home Office this year as the government tackles illegal migration and abuse of the asylum system.

Since signing our returns agreement with Albania in 2021, we have removed nearly 1,000 Albanian foreign national offenders, including some who crossed the Channel illegally to come to the UK.

The UK has removed 7,638 people via enforced, voluntary and other return types since January 1, including 1,995 foreign national offenders. In August 2022 alone, 220 criminals were removed from the UK on both charter and scheduled flights.

The Nationality and Borders Act will further deter illegal entry into the UK, breaking the business model of people-smuggling networks and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Three Trustees reappointed to the Victoria and Albert Museum

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

The Prime Minister has reappointed Jonathan Anderson, David Bomford and Marc St John as Trustees to the Victoria and Albert Museum for four year terms.

Jonathan Anderson

Reappointed for a four year term from 01 February 2023.

Jonathan Anderson is one of the leading fashion designers of his generation, earning both critical acclaim and commercial success with the collections he designs for his eponymous label, JW Anderson, and as creative director of the LVMH-owned Spanish luxury house LOEWE.

Anderson attended the London College of Fashion and launched his own menswear collection in 2008, under the JW Anderson label. In 2010, he expanded into womenswear and in 2013 was named the creative director of LOEWE. Two years later, in 2015, he became the first fashion designer to be awarded both Men’s and Womenswear Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council. Over the course of his career, Anderson has also collaborated on collections and products for brands including Moncler, Uniqlo and Persol among others.

Outside the world of fashion, Anderson is a dedicated supporter of art and craft. In 2016, he founded the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, the world’s first international award for contemporary craft and, in 2017, he curated Disobedient Bodies, an exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire.

Born in Northern Ireland in 1984 Jonathan is the son of Irish rugby player, Willie Anderson, and Heather Buckley, who worked as a secondary school teacher.

David Bomford

Reappointed for a four year term from 31 March 2023.

After studying chemistry at the University of Sussex, David Bomford went to the National Gallery, London, where he became Senior Restorer of paintings; during nearly four decades there he worked on many important paintings and organised an award-winning series of exhibitions and catalogues on the techniques of European painters, including early Italian artists, Rembrandt and the Impressionists.

In 2007, David joined the J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles as Director of Collections and then as acting Director of the museum. In 2012, he moved to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as Chair of Conservation and Head of European Art. While in Houston, he was in charge of the design and construction of a new state-of-the-art conservation building and curated exhibitions on subjects including Rubens, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Spanish Colonial painting, the Habsburgs and the British monarchy.

David has been the Secretary-General of the International Institute for Conservation; editor of the international journal Studies in Conservation; Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford; and has had visiting professorships in conservation and art history in Mexico City, in Sao Paolo, and at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery, Washington. He has many academic interests, including the study of unfinished art.

Marc St John

Reappointed for a four year term from 01 February 2023.

Marc is former head of investor relations at CVC Capital Partners, where he spent 19 years. CVC is a global fund manager with approximately $122 billion of assets under management. Prior to CVC, Marc was at Citigroup in several European corporate finance leadership positions and spent his last two years at Citigroup working directly with the chairman, John S. Reed, on special projects.

Throughout his career, Marc has lived in New York, London, Paris, and Moscow. Marc is married to Julie Newton, a Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. They have two children who live in New York City.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Jonathan Anderson, David Bomford and Marc St John have declared no political activity.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Three Trustees reappointed to the National Portrait Gallery

The press release issued by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

Marcus Harling

Reappointed for a 4 year term commencing 01 November 2022.

Marcus Harling brings a wide range of experience in the procurement and delivery of development projects of all types. As a lawyer, Marcus has advised clients including The Crown Estate, The UK Atomic Energy Authority and The Greater London Authority on the delivery of development and infrastructure projects.

Marcus is a Non-Executive Member of the Sponsor Board for the Norman Shaw North project, at the Palace of Westminster, Partner in law firm Burges Salmon and provides consultancy to public and private sector organisations on construction, infrastructure and regeneration projects. With a track record of advising arts and heritage projects, Marcus has taken an active role in supporting the current redevelopment of The National Portrait Gallery.

Marcus is a member of the National Portrait Gallery Audit and Risk Sub-Committee and Inspiring People Project Board.

Professor Shearer West

Reappointed for a 4 year term commencing 01 November 2022.

Professor Shearer West, CBE is Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Nottingham.

She has held a number of significant leadership roles in higher education, including Head of the School of Historical Studies at the University of Birmingham, Head of the Humanities Division at Oxford University and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield. She was also Director of Research at the Arts and Humanities Research Council where she chaired the Research Directors Group for Research Councils UK (now UKRI).

She is a Professor of Art History and has authored and edited many articles and nine books including Portraiture; The visual arts in Germany 1897-1940; and Fin de Siècle: Art and society in an age of uncertainty. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Historical Society, and has held two visiting Fellowships at Yale University. She was awarded a CBE in the 2021 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.

Shearer also has held a number of international research roles, including acting as main panel chair for the Norwegian research assessment exercise for Humanities, representing the UK on the Science Europe Humanities Scientific Committee, and acting as jurist for the Spinoza Prize in the Netherlands and the Odysseus and Solvay prizes in Belgium.

Jonathan Yeo

Reappointed for a 4 year term commencing 01 November 2022.

Jonathan Yeo (b. London 1970) is one of the world’s leading portraitists and has exhibited widely in both the UK and abroad. His sitters include such diverse figures as Sir David Attenborough, Malala Yousafzai, Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry, Idris Elba, Nicole Kidman, Baroness Lawrence, Tony Blair and The Duke of Edinburgh. Known for both traditional and experimental portraiture, his work has been the subject of mid-career surveys at the Museum of National History in Denmark (2016), the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle (2014-15), the Lowry in Greater Manchester (2014) and the National Portrait Gallery in London (2013). In 2018, Yeo exhibited a series of works at the Royal Academy of Arts in London all derived from new technologies, including the first bronze sculpture to be made using an innovative combination of processes, including 3D scanning, virtual reality and 3D printing. Other recent projects include collaborations with the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC and The Bowes Museum in County Durham. In 2018 he was named Artist of the Year by GQ Magazine.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Marcus Harling, Professor Shearer West and Jonathan Yeo have not declared any significant political activity.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Joanne Prowse reappointed to the Charity Commission Board

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

The Secretary of State has reappointed Joanne Prowse for a term of 15 months and 17 days, commencing 14 November 2022 until 1 March 2024.

Joanne Prowse

Joanne Prowse joined the Charity Commission Board in November 2019. She chairs the Remuneration and Appointments Committee.

Jo is the Chief Executive and a Board member of the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA), the UK regulator for content, goods and services charged to a phone bill. Jo has extensive leadership experience in strategy execution, policy development, operations, consumer protection, stakeholder management and organisational change in the regulatory, not-for-profit, digital, and commercial sectors.

She was previously the Director of Operations and IT at PSA. Jo has held senior roles at PRS for Music, the music copyright, licensing, and royalty distribution organisation, culminating as Managing Director for Membership and Operations with previous appointments of Executive Director for Membership and of Communications Director.

Jo has a BSc in Music from City University, a Master of Business Administration from the Open University, and a Diploma in Music Performance from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Current voluntary roles include Committee member of Chorleywood Music and producer of the Rickmansworth Young Musician of the Year Competition.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Charity Commission board members are remunerated £350 per day for approximately 24 days per year. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Joanne Prowse has declared no activity.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Pippa Britton appointed as Charity Commission Wales Board Member

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 September 2022.

Pippa Britton

Pippa Britton is a double Paralympian who competed on the GB archery team for 15 years and who represented the Welsh able-bodied team on more than 20 occasions. She achieved podium places at 6 consecutive World Championships and 24 International events and gained 11 world records along the way.

Whilst competing she became the first para-archery athlete committee member at World Archery, representing archers all over the world, and after retiring from competing was inspired by this to move into governance. She is currently the Vice Chair of Sport Wales and of Aneurin Bevan UHB and sits on the Board of the British Paralympic Association.

She has previously been Vice Chair of UK Anti-Doping, where she was chair of the Audit and Risk committee and has held a number of voluntary roles, from Chair of Disability Sport Wales, Archery GB Board member, Wheelchair Advisory Group at International Rugby League and International Paralympic Committee Anti Doping Committee member. She is currently a trustee at UWC Atlantic College.

She uses her lived and professional experience to contribute towards her passion of improving equity and inclusion, all with well-being and fairness at the heart.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Charity Commission board members are remunerated £350 per day for approximately 24 days per year. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Pippa Britton has declared no activity.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : £200 million of funding announced to address the disadvantage gap

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 2 September 2022.

Funding will increase access to English and maths schemes in schools, and the Education Endowment Foundation is backed to continue to improve attainment.

Education trials and interventions to improve attainment will be carried out across schools, colleges and early years settings, backed by a new multi-million government grant.

The Department for Education is to continue funding the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) with a new grant of £137 million, cementing the independent charity’s role as a central part of the education landscape for at least the next decade.

The EEF will continue to support the Government’s teacher training reforms, whilst expanding activity in the early years. This will include working as the evidence partner for the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs, which are due to launch in November 2022, to share effective evidence-based practices with local settings to help boost young children’s development.

The Government is also announcing a further £66 million for the next phase of the Accelerator Fund to increase access to high-quality literacy and numeracy programmes in schools over the next three academic years. This forms part of the Government’s commitment to ensuring that any child who falls behind in maths or English will get the support they need to get back on track.

As part of this, the EEF will be given up to £41.5 million to continue to increase its evidence around effective programmes, scale-up existing programmes, and support schools with implementation. Up to £21 million of the funding will also support Maths and English Hubs to roll out high quality programmes to schools.

Schools Minister, Will Quince, said:

The re-endowment of the EEF, in addition to funding to continue the Accelerator Fund, will provide the evidence base that allows schools and teachers to give children the best start to their education.

This work, in addition to our ambitious education recovery plan, will help to improve the attainment of millions of pupils and level up opportunities across the country.

Over the past decade, the EEF has carried out over 200 evaluations to understand which interventions and approaches are most effective in closing the attainment gap, engaging 23,000 nurseries, schools, and colleges in trials and reaching over 1.8 million children, including 500,000 pupils eligible for free school meals.

Today’s funding for the Accelerator Fund also follows a successful first year of the initiative, in which the EEF supported 20 programmes across more than 1,500 settings, including those in regions that experienced significant learning loss during the pandemic. Some of these programmes included ‘Reciprocal Reading’, an intensive 12-16 small-group programme to improve reading comprehension and ’1stClass@Number’, which supported 6–7-year-olds with low attainment in maths to improve their skills.

English Hubs and Maths Hubs programmes also helped to deliver programmes to over 5,000 schools, giving them access to phonics and numeracy programmes. These programmes have experienced strong demand and will continue to be rolled out to additional schools as part of ongoing funding announced today. Schools can contact their local hub for more information.

Areas with high proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds will continue to be prioritised for the schemes to help level up attainment.

Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the EEF since its inception, said:

Over the past decade, the EEF has built a reputation as a trusted and independent source of evidence. The new endowment will allow us to continue to evaluate and spread best practice across the country, as well as expand our work in the early years sector.

High-quality evidence plays an important role in supporting education practitioners’ own professional judgement, as they work to make sure that every child and young person has access to a great education.

These initiatives form part of the Government’s wider ambitious education recovery plan worth nearly £5 billion. This includes £1.5 billion for a national tutoring revolution, through which over two million high-quality tutoring courses have already started. A £1 billion Recovery Premium is also supporting some of the most disadvantaged pupils across the country to catch up on lost learning.

The £137 million re-endowment of the EEF is in addition to around £40 million of remaining funding from the EEF’s original endowment. The £66 million in funding for the next phase of the Accelerator Fund includes up to £41.5 million for the EEF, up to £21 million to Maths and English Hubs, up to £3 million for a procured supplier to provide capability building support to programmes to help them scale-up, and up to £500,000 for an evaluation of the EEF element of the Accelerator Fund programme.

02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : New programme aimed to boost diversity in boardrooms
The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 2 September 2022.
- Government launches new programme to boost diversity in public boardrooms
- New scheme will spread opportunity across the UK as part of levelling up drive
- Aspiring board members to receive practical boardroom experience, knowledge and skills
Today, (2 September 2022) the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Greg Clark MP, has launched a UK-wide pilot Boardroom Apprentice programme to develop aspiring board members for positions across the public and voluntary sectors.

The programme aims to create a pipeline of more diverse talent to ensure public and voluntary sector boardrooms more closely reflect the communities they serve across the UK.

Candidates will undertake 12 months of board learning, development and placements, arming them with the knowledge and practical experience they need to become board members.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Greg Clark MP, said:

Our boardrooms should be open to the best talent available.

I encourage aspiring board members from all backgrounds to apply for this unique opportunity to expand their skills, grow their knowledge and gain invaluable experience.

Today’s announcement builds on a successful programme in Northern Ireland that has already seen over 50% of participants appointed to a board position within 12 months post completion.

Born to a Jamaican father and mother from Northern Ireland, David is a class of 2021 participant on the Boardroom Apprentice programme. David has been disabled since birth and has sought to overcome some of the challenges experienced by persons with disabilities.

David Johnston, Boardroom Apprentice, Community Relations Council, said:

Being part of the Boardroom Apprentice programme as a privilege.

For me the Boardroom Apprentice programme has reinforced the importance of being motivated and committed to enhancing public service delivery. Diversity is in the DNA of the Boardroom Apprentice programme, so apply and be the change that you want to see.

Jo McGinley, from Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland, completed the NI Boardroom Apprentice programme in 2020. She applied to the programme because, her family and herself had a huge amount of support from voluntary and public sectors and she wanted to give something back to her local community.

Jo McGinley, Non-Executive Director on the Board of a local charity, said:

My impression was that you only went on to a Board when you retired or when you were senior in an organisation. Boardroom Apprentice fundamentally changed my opinion on that. The programme gives participants, regardless of their background or education; the knowledge, experience, and skills to sit on a Board.

I gained practical experience sitting on a Board, increased my understanding of the role of a Board member and developed a fantastic network of support. So, the advice that I’d give anyone who is thinking of going for the Boardroom Apprentice programme is to do it!

As a result of completing the Boardroom Apprentice programme, Jo is now a Non-Executive Director on the Board of a local charity.

The programme forms part of the government’s wider mission to level up the country and strengthen the Union by spreading opportunity and improving diversity of thought, background, experience and geographic location of Board candidates.

We expect to open to apprentice applications in the autumn.
02/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Russia’s 2008 military invasion of Georgia – Joint statement to the OSCE

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 2 September 2022.

Norwegian Ambassador Karlsen delivers a statement on behalf of OSCE’s Group of Friends of Georgia, marking 14 years since Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

This statement is delivered on behalf of Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

We reaffirm our full support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

Fourteen years since the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Georgia, we remain deeply concerned over the continued occupation of parts of the territory of Georgia and underline the need for the peaceful resolution of the conflict based on full respect for international law and commitments, including the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.

We condemn Russia’s aggression against Georgia in 2008 and express our deep concern over Russia’s military exercises and ongoing military presence in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. We also reiterate our condemnation of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

We welcome Georgia’s compliance with the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement. We call upon Russia to fulfill immediately its clear obligation under the ceasefire agreement to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions, as well as its commitments to allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and not to impede creation of international security arrangements on the ground. We call upon Russia to reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.

We condemn Russia’s steps, which appear intended to unilaterally establish the Georgia-Russia state border on the segments of the occupied territories and incorporate a part of Aibgha village of Georgia into Krasnodar Krai. In the same vein, we express concern over Russia’s attempted seizure of 180 hectares of land in Gagra district of Abkhazia, Georgia, which is another step toward attempted annexation. We urge Russia to reverse this process.

We note the January 2021 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case concerning the armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008 and its consequences, including its findings that Russia has exercised effective control over Georgia’s regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following the 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement, including through its military presence. The Court also ruled that Russia, in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, tortured Georgian Prisoners of War; arbitrarily detained and killed Georgian civilians, and was responsible for their inhuman and degrading treatment; prevented the return of ethnic Georgians to their homes; and failed to conduct investigations into killings of civilians. We call on Russia to fully comply with the judgment, including by allowing internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes in safety and dignity. We also note the decision of International Criminal Court (ICC) of 30 June, 2022 that issued arrest warrant applications for the war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion in 2008. We call on Russia to cooperate with the office of prosecutor of the ICC.

We are concerned over the continuous discrimination against Georgians on the grounds of ethnicity in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions and abuses, including severe restrictions on rights related to freedom of movement, education, residence and property, particularly in connection with the destruction of the houses of IDPs. We call on those in control to enable full and unhindered access by international human rights organisations to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We condemn the decision to replace instruction in Georgian language with Russian in schools of the ethnic-Georgian-inhabited Gali district of the Abkhazia region. We also condemn obliteration and alteration of Georgian features from the Georgian cultural heritage monuments in both regions.

We are particularly concerned over the ongoing installation of barbed wire fences and other artificial barriers along the administrative boundary lines (ABLs) of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. Isolation and continuous restrictions on freedom of movement have destabilized the situation on the ground and severely impacted the security, safety, well-being, and humanitarian conditions of civilians in conflict-affected areas, particularly in Akhalgori district, where reports suggest the local population suffers from shortages of medicine and food, and is denied access to pensions and essentials, including the free healthcare services available in Georgian Government controlled territory. This creates a risk for further depopulation of the Akhalgori district.

We remain deeply concerned by ongoing arbitrary detentions around the ABLs and call for the immediate and unconditional release of Irakli Bebua, Kristine Takalandze and all those under arbitrary detention.

We condemn the killing of Georgian citizens Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria, and Davit Basharuli, and urge Russia to remove any obstacles to bringing the perpetrators to justice. In this context, we reiterate our support for Georgia’s preventive steps aimed at eradicating impunity and note the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili List adopted by the government of Georgia.

We support the effective continuation of Geneva International Discussions (GID), as of the only format with the Russian Federation to address implementation of EU-mediated 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement, as well as the security, human rights, and humanitarian challenges stemming from the unresolved Russia – Georgia conflict. We underline the necessity of progress on the core issues of the discussions, including on the non-use of force, establishing international security arrangements in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions and ensuring the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of IDPs and refugees in accordance with international law. We strongly support applying the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the GID in order to facilitate inclusive and sustainable peace and security on the ground.

We express our support for the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRMs) in Ergneti and Gali and emphasize the important role they can have in preventing the escalation of the conflict and in helping to protect the safety and security of people on the ground. We express our great concern over the lengthy suspension of the Gali IPRM and urge its resumption without further delay or pre-conditions, in line with the ground rules.

We reaffirm our unwavering support for the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and call upon Russia to allow the EUMM to implement its mandate in full, including by enabling the EUMM’s access on both sides of the ABLs.

We welcome the launch of a multi-stakeholder process for developing a comprehensive “State Strategy for de-occupation and peaceful conflict resolution” by the government of Georgia, as well as the launch of the strategic review of the reconciliation and engagement policy. We support the Georgian government’s ‘A Step to a Better Future’ peace initiative, aimed at improving the humanitarian and socio-economic conditions of people residing in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions and at fostering confidence building among divided communities. We urge active work on reconciliation and engagement programs and stand ready to support.

We encourage the OSCE’s engagement in the process of finding a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Georgia conflict. We regret the closure of the OSCE mission to Georgia in 2009 and encourage the OSCE participating States to decide on the reopening of the OSCE cross-dimensional mission in Georgia, including a monitoring capacity able to operate unhindered across the ABLs. The reopening of the mission would strengthen considerably the OSCE’s engagement in the GID and IPRMs. Furthermore, re-establishment of a field mission would support OSCE’s work in every phase of the conflict cycle.

The Group of Friends of Georgia will continue to raise awareness of the conflict and of developments on the ground, hold Russia accountable for its obligations and commitments, and advocate for the conflict’s peaceful resolution.

02/09/2022