On 9 November 2022, 10 officials of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia gathered in Tbilisi to participate in a workshop on the management of alternative measures to the detention of foreigners, who reside in Georgia on an irregular basis and may be temporarily detained to secure their departure from Georgia.

Subject matter experts from the Ministry of Interior of Bulgaria and a Bulgarian NGO engaged in online presentations and discussions with their Georgian peers in raising awareness on what types of alternative measures to the detention of migrants are effective and how case management can be applied to reach solutions that are in the interests of both the migrants concerned and the state. The role of NGOs in supporting the protection of migrants’ rights and cooperation models between civil society and immigration authorities were subject of interactive discussions.

IOM will continue working with the MIA Migration Department in sharing the experiences of other EU countries in managing alternative measures to detention and protecting the rights of vulnerable migrants, as part of the multi-annual project funded by the EU Delegation to Georgia called “Border and Migration Management Action in Georgia (BMMAG)”.