The Council of Europe announced that its officials were once again unable to visit Abkhazia and South Ossetia, leaving external observers reliant on meetings in Tbilisi and information from international sources.

The access problem is brought up once more in the Council of Europe Secretary General’s 33rd consolidated report on the conflict, which covers the period from October 2025 to March 2026, The Caspian Post reports, citing foreign media.

Not being able to visit the conflict areas, the Council of Europe delegation carried out its fact finding mission Tbilisi on March 4-6 and met Georgian officials and representatives of international organizations. But the report says the Secretary General continues to call for access to Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, and that the Secretariat “was not given access on this occasion.”

Many of the biggest human problems described in the report are happening across the dividing lines: restricted movement, detentions, documentation problems, family separation, missing persons, and limits on Georgian-language education.

The report uses the Council of Europe’s official legal framework, which supports Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. At the same time, it refers to the “Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia,” and also to the “authorities in control,” language that reflects the politicized terminology that is part of the dispute.

The ceasefire lines have been largely quiet since the 2008 war, but the conflict remains unresolved. In November and March, at two recent meetings within the Geneva talks, where the warring parties meet, with UN, EU and OSCE as co-chairs, the issue of internally displaced persons and refugees returning home could not be discussed in either meeting because “some participants” walked out.

A further sign of distrust is that the de facto authorities in control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia repeated earlier Russian calls to move the talks away from Geneva, arguing that the city no longer offers a neutral venue. No change of venue is planned.

Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Lasha Darsalia told the Strasbourg meeting that Tbilisi remains committed to peaceful conflict resolution, according to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset expressed support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and said the organization would continue issuing consolidated reports within its mandate.

Until August, 2008, international peace keeping missions from the UN and OSCE were present in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, respectively, but since the war, international access has been minimal. Some Council of Europe bodies gained limited access in the early post-war years. Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg visited Tskhinvali and Akhalgori in 2008 as part of a special follow-up mission. The CoE anti-torture committee, CPT, also carried out a visit to Abkhazia in April-May 2009 and was granted access to places of detention it wanted to inspect. But regular monitoring access has not been established.

The EU’s observer mission EUMM, which was established after the war, does not have access to the conflict areas, and while only carrying out its task on Georgian controlled territory, it is often distrusted by the breakaway authorities.