The UN Representative in Georgia, Niels Scott, has announced that UN Women will open an office in Abkhazia. The news comes following a meeting between Scott and the de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Beslan Bartsits, in Sukhumi on 9 February.

According to Abkhazia’s government-run news agency, Apsnypress, there are already three UN programmes working in Abkhazia in several fields, such as education, health, and ‘contributing to the economic development of the country’.

‘It is assumed that with your support, a fourth programme will soon operate’, Apsnypress quoted Scott as saying to Bartsits.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women is a UN entity working for the empowerment of women. UN Women in Abkhazia will work in the field of education, health care, and promoting the participation of youth in public life, Sputnik reported.

Abkhazia, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, is recognised as an independent country by Russia, three other UN member states, and other breakaway regions, while it is considered to be the sovereign territory of Georgia under Russian military occupation by Georgia and the international community.