SMR OFFICE FUNCTIONS

Functions and Responsibilities of the Office of the State Minister

Functions and Responsibilities of the Office within the limits of its competence are:

a) elaborating and suggesting initiative proposals and formats for peacekeeping in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region, managing the peace-keeping process and participating in it;

b) safe, unconditional and dignified return of forcefully displaced persons from the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region, IDPs and refugees and their descendants; elaborating institutional mechanisms for the protection of their rights and contributing to their implementation; (5.11. 2008; N216)

c) facilitating and coordinating social-economic activities on the territory of Georgia aimed at reintegration and civil integration;

d) elaborating, coordinating and implementing the civil-integration policy of the government; implementing interagency, local and regional cooperation; facilitation of initiatives on civil integration of national/ethnic minorities and contributing to their implementation; supervising and implementing elaborated programs;

e) elaborating and presenting to the Government of Georgia issues related to reintegration and civil integration as well as recommendations, policy and strategy related to the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region;

f) informing the public on activities of the Office of the State Minister;

g) negotiating and conducting consultations with international organizations, foreign governments and non-governmental organizations in order to achieve goals of the Office;

h) coordinating relevant activities of the state structures of Georgia contributing to reintegration and civil-integration;

i) providing for, and participating in, all negotiations related to the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region;

j) organizing and managing activities of high-level and expert-level interagency commissions on issues related to the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region;

k) organizing special funds related to reintegration and civil-integration, on the basis of the legally established rule, initiation and coordination of proper programs and supervision of their implementation;

l) advancing consideration of humanitarian, social-economic and confidence-building projects to be implemented in the occupied territories, as defined by the Law of Georgia "On Occupied Territories", by international organizations and non-governmental organizations operating under their aegis as well as by non-commercial legal entities established on the basis of Georgian legislation, and other local initiative groups, with the aim of contributing to the projects’ implementation and coordination; communicating and closely cooperating with these organizations and initiative groups; (14.04.2009; N75)

m) gathering and analyzing information to inform Georgia’s state policy and strategy towards the occupied territories as defined by the Law of Georgia "On Occupied Territories" and the population resident there. (24.07.2009; N129)