MENU CLOSE

Georgia

COVID-19 "Faces of migration"

COVID-19 « Faces of migration »


With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, IOM Mission in Georgia is implementing EMERGE Project, to enhance migrants’ rights and good governance. Seeking to raise awareness of the challenges faced by migrants, especially during the time of COVID-19, the activity “COVID 19 and Faces of Migration” aims to capture migrants’ and migrant families’ stories and hopes in the context of COVID-19 using the medium of photography accompanied by narratives. IOM partnered with three local NGOs: Rights Georgia, Migration Centre and Green Caucasus, to identify foreign migrants open to sharing their stories. IOM also identified returnees, Georgian citizens, who benefited from IOM’s reintegration assistance and were open to discussing their COVID-19 related journeys. The stories of migrants remind us that the COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a health crisis. The virus remains a threat – not people, not migrants, and not stranded, or displaced persons. The pandemic is borderless; people are affected regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, religion or status. And yet, the pandemic is having an unprecedented and devastating impact on migration, human mobility, and displacement, both in terms of regimes for border and migration management, and the situation of all people on the move.IOM works globally to protect migrants’ rights and promote positive aspects of well-regulated migration.