The Covid-19 pandemic has had far reaching impact on our lives. It seriously limited our mobility and the fact that the social economic, cultural and many other ties. Migrants and mobile population have been affected much more disproportionately in many respects. Millions of migrants have remained stranded often without income or shelter, unable to return home due to COVID-19 mobility restriction.

Thousands of Georgian migrants, for example, have been caught in this situation and received support to safely return to Georgia thanks to the timely and effective action of the government. Migrants are also more vulnerable to the broader social and economic impacts of COVID-19. The crisis has from one day to another deprived them of the access to jobs and income, basic commodities and medicine - medical services.

It has in many cases disrupted their ties with communities and their social networks leaving them deprived of reliable information. Migrants generally bear a higher risk of infection and have more limited access to health care. Leaving migrants on the margins of our societies deepens the risks for all of us - for the entire society, and other way around, we all benefit when vulnerable people such as migrants are included and supported. we are dedicating this day the international migrants’ day to the vulnerable migrants whose lives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

IOM Georgia is marking this day with an outdoor photo exhibition – “COVID-19 and faces of migration”, which captures stories and hopes of migrants and their families in the times of pandemic. These stories remind us that the pandemic is borderless - people are affected regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, religion or status. COVID-19 does not discriminate and neither should we.

Sanja Celebic Lukovac, IOM Georgia Chief of Mission