Tbilisi, Georgia — November 23, 2004 — Mr. Ruud Lubbers, UNHCR Geneva High Commissioner and Ms. Eter Astemirova, Minister of Refugees and Accommodations in Georgia, visit an IRD project site at an IDP Collective Center in Tbilisi where 600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Abkhazia are living. Under a project funded by the U.S. Government, IRD is currently rehabilitating the roof, sewage system, water supply and sanitation of this five-story terraced building which was previously used as a boarding school for deaf and dumb.

Since July 1, 2004 IRD has been rehabilitating five large collective centers in Tbilisi to meet basic shelter needs as specified by the Sphere Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. IRD is focusing on the rehabilitation of roofs, water and sanitation systems that are at the core of the degrading living conditions of the IDPs. Through this humanitarian intervention, the project will directly benefit 2,430 IDPs living in these collective centers and ensure them their right to a life with dignity is respected in their shelter environment over the next five to ten years.