THE HAGUE: The UN’s highest court ordered Russia and Georgia on Wednesday not to target ethnic groups in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the scene of a recent clash between Moscow and Tbilisi.

“Both parties shall refrain from any acts of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions,” said presiding judge Rosalyn Higgins of the International Court of Justice.

The judgment followed a request by Tbilisi for interim protection measures against what it claims was a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” by Moscow in the two countries’ August clash over the two regions.

But the court modified Tbilisi’s request and widened the warning to Georgia as well.

“Both parties shall ... abstain from sponsoring, defending or supporting racial discrimination,” the judges ruled.

The court said both nations should “do all in their power ...to ensure without distinction as to national or ethnic origin the security of persons, the right of persons to freedom of movement and residence within the order of the state, (and) the protection of the property of displaced persons and of refugees.” The judges also ordered both countries not to hamper humanitarian aid and to keep the court informed of compliance measures.—AFP