On May 23 IOM organized the 5th steering committee meeting under its project - Enhancing Migrants’ Rights and Good Governance in Armenia and Georgia (EMERGE), funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. The meeting was attended by the project counterparts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Commission for Migration Issues (SCMI), Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons for the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs (MoLHSA), Public Defender’s Office, State Security Service, Government Administration and National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC). Highlight of the meeting was presentation of the Advocacy Network for Migration Issues (ANMI) by EMERGE’s partner NGO – Rights Georgia. The Advocacy Network for Migration Issues (ANMI) was established with IOM’s support last November. It unites nine civil society organizations, working in the field of migration throughout Georgia, in an effort to advocate for protection of the rights of migrants.

Opening remarks have been made by Maja Wiebler, EMERGE Project Coordinator who provided participants with the updates on EMERGE activities and also overviewed the results of the project since its implementation in November 2019. Stakeholders and participants also discussed further joint activities under the project.

All counterparts had a chance to share their observations and ideas for future steps. At the end of the meeting, EMERGE Project Coordinator announced upcoming regional conference on the role of local self-government in migration management that will be held in Tbilisi in November 2022.