2009 Photo Contest, People in the News, 2nd prize
Photographer

Justyna Mielnikiewicz

for The New York Times

13 August, 2008

Many families, like this one, fled their villages without identification.

Fighting broke out between the Georgian army and separatist forces in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August 2008. Russian troops moved into the region in support of the separatists. As the conflict spread beyond the boundary of South Ossetia, people fled their homes. Thousands are still displaced. The issue remains essentially unresolved, with Russia recognizing South Ossetia as independent, and Georgia and most other United Nations countries seeing it as part of Georgia.

About the photographer

Justyna Mielnikiewicz

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