New York - The embattled government of Georgia on Thursday won a small victory when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution by a small margin, upholding the rights of Georgian refugees and displaced persons to return to Abkhazia, which is trying to secede from Georgia with the backing of Russia. The 192-nation assembly voted 14-11, with 105 abstentions, to adopt a resolution recognizing "the right of return of all refugees and internally displaced persons and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to Abkhazia, Georgia."
The United States supported the resolution while Russia voted against.
The resolution was passed despite the small number of positive votes after Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova delivered speeches accusing Russia of "inserting" separatists into their territories.
Those four countries are known collectively as GUAM, and the resolution called on the UN to consider the "Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace and development."
The resolution called for preserving property rights of refugees and displaced people from Abkhazia, including victims of reported "ethnic cleansing."
The assembly will discuss implementation of the resolution next year. The adoption of the text highlighted the growing conflict between Russia and some eastern and central European nations following Kosovo's declaration of independence in February.
Russia backed Serbia in opposing Kosovo independence. But since that Serb province seceded from Belgrade, Georgia has accused Russia of encouraging Abkhazia to break up with the Georgian state.
Georgia, a former Soviet Republic, has fought against secession by Abkhazia, which is inhabited mostly by white Russians. It said hundreds of thousands of Georgians were expelled from Abkhazia while more Russians have settled there.
In recent months, Tbilisi has accused Moscow of undermining its sovereignty, shooting down a Georgian drone and trying to encourage Abkhazia to declare independence.
In addition to the US, the countries that voted for the resolution included Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Albania, Georgia and Moldova.
Countries voting against included Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Sudan, Myanmar, Belarus, North Korea, India and Iran.
Ukraine's UN Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev told the assembly in an address that Russia has continued the "notorious tradition of inserting separatism into the GUAM region."
"Some power gives us to understand that the recent tensions around Abkhazia and territorial claims by Ukraine became a result of the decision on a case of Kosovo," Sergeyev said. "This is a dangerous insinuation."
Azerbaijan's Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev denounced "aggressive separatism" in the territories of GUAM while Georgia's Ambassador Irakli Alasania said up to 500,000 Georgians have been deprived of their human rights as refugees and war-displaced persons.
