Legal Assistance and Assessment of Needs of migrants in Georgia

15 July, 2020

Project Title: Legal Assistance and Assessment of Needs of migrants in Georgia

Project Duration: July 15, 2020  - November 30, 2020 (Prolonged for the period of December 07, 2020 - April 07, 2021)

Funding: USD 9341 

Project Supporter: Implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway under IOM’s EMERGE

Project Goal: The project seeks to empower migrants residing in Georgia, to improve their overall protection situation, to support them in better understanding of their rights, and to provide them with respective legal assistance. The goal of the project is to be achieved through delivery of qualified legal assistance and advocacy interventions. 

 

Empower Migrants to have proper access to information about their rights and legal proceedings

In order to accomplish the goal set by the project within the legal aid component, Rights Georgia will:

•    Provide legal consultations  and information to each individual who approaches Rights Georgia related to migration issues, including lawyers, self-government and government, CSOs representatives;

•    Provide information about rights and obligations on entire residence permit procedure in Georgia, as well the court proceedings;

•    Provide consultation regarding available state services, as well as the subsidies and opportunities suggested by the Government of Georgia in response to COVID-19 pandemic;

•    Provide legal assistance to migrants within administrative proceedings related to the residence permit issues on selected cases;

•    Provide legal assistance and consultation to migrants within the government programmes available in response to COVID-19 when deemed necessary;

•    Early identify migrants with special needs and provide pertinent assistance; 

•    Provide legal assistance in drafting documents for the administrative authorities; 

•    Provide legal assistance in drafting claims, appeals, applications for the common courts of Georgia;

•    Undertake advocacy interventions on legal matters jointly identified with IOM;

•    Cooperate with partner organizations/stakeholders and participate in working meetings when necessary;

•    Disseminate information about available services of Rights Georgia through social media and other available platforms;

•    Develop brochures with information about state programmes and services in relevant languages and disseminate among migrants and stakeholders; 

•    Regularly follow up on the legislative amendments relevant to the migrants and identify gaps where applicable;

•    Monitor and assess overall access to rights and justice for migrants in Georgia from practical and legislative perspectives; 

•    Prepare one concluding report on overall project performance.
 

Identify legislative challenges in light of international standards and good practices and explore gaps in service provisions to migrants 

In order to accomplish the goal set by the project within research component, Rights Georgia will develop the research plan/design, desk research and will:

•    Examine and assess Georgia’s responses to COVID-19 from the perspective of national and international migration law;

•    Conduct interviews, meet various responsible individuals, including GoG representatives in order they can provide input on how they perceive their response and inclusion of migrants; request FOIA, etc.; 

•    Identify specific legal challenges migrants have encountered because of restricted measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic;

•    Explore consideration of migrants within the programmes launched by the Government of Georgia in response to COVID -19;

•    Identify legislative and implementation gaps in light of international standards and good practices.

•    Identify legislative shortcomings in terms of the legal status of migrants in Georgia. 

•    Explore gaps in service provision to migrants and mapping of communities of migrants at the local level to contribute to better understanding of their needs;

•    Explore the ways of enhancing collaboration and communication between local government and civil sector to address the needs of migrants;

•    Develop research and recommendations on how to address the identified challenges based on the best practices and suggest the strategy of improvement.