TBILISI, Georgia, (Aug 11, 2008) - World Vision is providing emergency relief supplies to women and children who managed to flee to Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, as the plight of thousands of civilians caught up in the fighting in and around South Ossetia continues.

“Our staff have been hearing some truly heartbreaking stories—children who got out, but their parents didn’t, for example,” said David Womble, World Vision’s national director in Georgia.

World Vision is supplying essential food such as canned meat, pasta, vegetable oil and iodized salt, along with hygiene kits and blankets. It is also providing medical supplies to Tbilisi’s main hospital. The relief and development organization is working with World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and other organizations to coordinate relief efforts.

“We will mobilize supplies from outside the country as well, but of course all of this depends on a cessation of attacks on Georgia. We need all parties to observe an immediate ceasefire,” Womble said.

According to the UNHCR, the number of internally displaced people in Georgia and South Ossetia is estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 people. There are now 12 centres set up for those fleeing the violence, half of which are in Tbilisi, and the rest in towns and villages nearby. World Vision is currently carrying out needs assessments in all the centres in Tbilisi, with a special focus on the needs of the children.

 “I don’t need anything, but peace,” an 11-year-old boy from Ergneti village in the Gori region, told World Vision staff. He escaped with his 4-year-old sister and his mother, and his father later arrived to join the family.

“There were rockets in the sky and it was like lightning all the time,” he said. “When we were going from Ergneti to Gori to visit my aunt, they dropped a bomb on the way and the building block started to shake. We got scared and we immediately came to Tbilisi.”

World Vision is calling upon the international community to help broker an immediate ceasefire as more people flee either north into Russia or south toward the Georgian capital to escape the violence.

World Vision is advocating for the following:

• The United Nations Security Council must work to broker an immediate ceasefire.
• All combatants must abide by international law and protect civilians, particularly children and women, who are the most vulnerable.
• Civilians fleeing the conflict zone to the north and the south must be afforded safe passage.
• Humanitarian corridors should be set up immediately so aid workers can safely access civilians and provide life-saving assistance.
• In particular, U.N. agencies must be allowed access into the conflict zone to help coordinate the humanitarian response and maintain the necessary security communications to allow for humanitarian operations.
• The United Nations, regional actors and key international stakeholders should advance the mediation of a long-term political solution that will end the conflict and address the humanitarian conditions resulting from the fighting.

World Vision has worked in Georgia since 1994, focusing on community development and the needs of children. Current programs include microfinance for programs, support for street children and children with disabilities, food-for-work initiatives, HIV and AIDS prevention and assistance for returning migrant workers. World Vision does not have current programs in South Ossetia but assists more than 15,000 children in Abkhazia, another breakaway region of Georgia.

The organization’s regular operations in Georgia, as well as its projects in Abkhazia, have been suspended for the time being, as all efforts are now focused on the humanitarian relief effort.

World Vision also has worked in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation since 1995, including peace building and economic recovery projects in North Ossetia.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.

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To interview World Vision staff, please contact:

Britt Hamilton
905-565-6200 ext. 3973
416-275-1057 (cell)
britt_hamilton@WorldVision.ca

Yoko Kobayashi
905-565-6200 ext. 2151
416-671-0086 (cell)
yoko_kobayashi@WorldVision.ca