With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway IOM continues to strengthen national capacities in the fields of migrants’ rights and migration governance in Armenia and Georgia and strengthen cross-border dialogue and cooperation in the area.

On 26 November IOM Georgia and Armenia, in partnership with the Georgian non-governmental organization “Rights Georgia” co-hosted the meeting between 9 Georgia NGOs, under the newly established Advocacy Network for Migration Issues (ANMI) in Georgia, and 4 Armenian NGOs working in the field of migration. The aim of the meeting was to bring together organizations from Georgia and Armenia who are active in the migration field with a goal to share best practices, enhance information exchange and explore cross-border collaboration.

The participants were greeted by the IOM EMERGE Project coordinators in Tbilisi and Yerevan, Ms. Maja Wiebler and Mr. Marco Pellegrini. NGO “Rights Georgia” presented the process of Georgia NGO network creation. The ANMI members, 9 Georgian NGOs:  Association Toleranti, Migration Centre, Tolerance and Diversity Institute, Merkuri, Tanadgoma and TOK TV, briefly presented their activities and expressed interest in further developing contacts with Armenian counterparts. IOM Georgia has successfully worked with most of the current ANMI members, to raise awareness on the rights of migrants and provide legal, humanitarian assistance and access to migration-related information. 

From the Armenian side, the meeting was attended by the Armenian UN Association, Armenian Caritas, Mission Armenia, and Eurasia Partnership Foundation (Human Rights Project) which also presented their activities in the field of migration and human rights protection.

This meeting kicked off this important cross-border cooperation of civil society organizations and IOM will work with these organizations to plan future events that will enhance regional cooperation to benefit migration processes.