Organization: Journalists for Human Rights

Location: South Ossetia

Years: 2013-2014

As a result of armed conflicts that unfolded on the territory of South Ossetia, many locals have trouble proving their identity by necessary documents that would for example make them eligibile for pension money.

It is quite difficult if not impossible for such people to acquire older documents certifying marriage, divorce, level of achieved education, years of work, death etc. Many of these documents are physically located in the Georgian territory that is inaccessible for a large part of South Ossetians due to the conflict. This also applies in the opposite direction for many Georgians.

The idea behind the project is identifying which documents of South Ossetians are deposited in Tbilisi archives and possibilities of their acquisition. This would then help the holders secure entitlement for the pay-out of higher pensions and social subsidies and solving other social issues.

As a part of the project an opinion poll was held among South Ossetians concerning how serious this problem is, which documents are the most important for people and which problems they face while applying for them.