Global Needs Assessment

In August, 2008 conflict broke out between Georgia and Russia forcing some 127,000 people from their homes throughout Georgia, adding to an already displaced population of some 223,000 people uprooted by conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the early 1990s.

The fresh wave of displacement focused international attention on the plight of Georgia's displaced and has created a strong impetus to try to improve conditions for all displaced people and refugees in Georgia. A UNHCR donor mission in April 2008, after witnessing the often desperate living conditions in collective centres of some 100,000 people displaced earlier, described the needs of Georgia's displaced as 'overwhelming'. The collective centres are generally overcrowded, squalid, lacking in access to adequate water supply and sanitation creating tensions and negatively affecting school attendance rates. The displaced also face the risk of eviction.

2010 UNHCR country operations profile - Georgia

Working environment

The context

UNHCR addresses the protection and assistance needs of nearly 340,000 individuals in Georgia. As of September 2009, this number included around 230,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Georgia, including in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The total number also includes some 106,000 people who have returned to Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and areas adjacent to South Ossetia, whose situation remains precarious.

Georgia also hosts some 1,000 refugees, mostly from the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, and a small number of asylum-seekers, as well as more than 1,600 stateless people. However, the precise number of stateless people is not known, as cumbersome procedures for obtaining identity documents complicate the assessment.

The needs

Local integration is the preferred durable solution for refugees in Georgia. Therefore, their legal, economic, social and cultural concerns need to be addressed.

Reception standards in Georgia are poor, with asylum-seekers accommodated in an over-crowded temporary transit centre. It is expected that revised refugee legislation, now being drafted with the support of UNHCR, will strengthen the national asylum system. Refugees and asylum-seekers also need legal counselling to navigate the national asylum system. In addition, stateless people require assistance to obtain identity documents and resolve their situation.

Of the IDPs, around 212,000 have been displaced for more than 16 years, and live without proper shelter or the means to become self-sufficient. Over 106,000 IDPs have returned to the Gali and Shida Kartli regions or been resettled within the Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli and Metskheta-Mtianeti regions. However, they still need help with housing assistance, income generation and community mobilization.

No precise data on sexual and gender-based violence among people of concern to UNHCR is available. However, profiling exercises, participatory assessments and NGO reports indicate that such violence is rife in all parts of society, including among refugees and IDPs.

Main objectives

Favourable protection environment

• Support the Government to build an asylum system in line with international standards.

• Advocate for accession to international conventions on statelessness and related procedures.

• Build Government capacity to respond to the needs of IDPs, in line with the United Nations

Fair protection processes

• Improve the legal status of refugees by helping them to obtain permanent resident status or naturalization, particularly for those refugees who are stateless.

Community participation and self-management

• Promote self-reliance and advocate for the inclusion of people of concern in national social support systems.

• Improve the level of IDP participation in protection, humanitarian assistance and self-reliance activities.

• In line with UNHCR's Strategic Directions for Abkhazia, support grassroots confidence-building measures that promote solutions for the displaced.

Durable solutions

• Find durable solutions for refugees and IDPs, particularly local integration, and seek resettlement for a small number of refugees with specific protection needs.

Key targets for 2010

• Refugees attain greater self-reliance, and receive counselling and assistance in applying for naturalization.

• On-the-job coaching and seminars are conducted for Government counterparts on the regularization of the status of stateless people.

• Some 80 per cent of children in minority communities have their births registered and receive documentation, reducing the risk of statelessness.

• Standards are set and implementation improved in housing and other assistance programmes for IDPs.

• Some 10 per cent of the IDP population are provided with adequate shelter, and their self-reliance is enhanced to facilitate their local integration.

• Some 140 women- or girls-at-risk are provided a safe haven, and some 250 refugee and IDP women who are subjected to domestic violence, forced early marriage, bride-kidnapping or sexual violence receive counselling.

Strategy and activities

The Office is counting on stability in Georgia and the support of the Government and the international community in the search for durable solutions for IDPs, refugees and stateless people. It is expected that the Government will keep its commitment to permit refugees to integrate in the country. Legal obstacles to integration will be reduced and the issuance of temporary residence permits will allow refugees to avail themselves of their rights and public services. A new reception centre for asylum-seekers will open in 2010.

The Office will pursue local integration as the most viable solution for people of concern. In parallel, a reintegration strategy is being developed to support spontaneous returns, including of IDPs in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The integration strategy for Chechen refugees, mainly in the Pankisi Valley, focuses on income generation and legal advice to facilitate socio-economic and legal integration, culminating in naturalization. The potential for local integration will be improved through collaboration with the relevant authorities and improvements in the legal framework. If successful, this will allow UNHCR to phase out its integration programme in 2011.

The Office supports the passage of improved asylum legislation in line with international standards. UNHCR will provide technical assistance and help build capacity for the full implementation of the legislation.

The Office will pursue its strategy on statelessness with the understanding that the Government will adopt the necessary support measures and facilitate the registration of individuals lacking basic civil documentation. It will prevent and address statelessness among children in minority communities through a birth registration project in cooperation with UNICEF and the Government. It will advocate for amendments to national citizenship legislation and promote Georgia's accession to the international statelessness conventions. In cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Office advises the Government on the implementation of the return programme for Meshketians, paying particular attention to the prevention of statelessness during return.

UNHCR's local integration strategy for IDPs addresses needs in areas such as shelter, income generation and vocational training. It also provides humanitarian assistance and protection to IDPs who have spontaneously returned to Gali, or who are in the process of returning, in order to contribute to their reintegration and prevent renewed displacement.

Constraints

Humanitarian access to some 14,000 IDPs and returnees in South Ossetia remains impossible at present.

Organization and implementation

Coordination

UNHCR will work with the UN Country Team, Government coordination bodies, civil society and other international and local partners, to bridge gaps and supplement the Government's efforts on behalf of people of concern.

UNHCR will continue to work closely with UNICEF, UNIFEM and WFP. Other partners include IOM, SDC, ICRC and organizations involved in the Strategic Partnership for Abkhazia. IDP activities will build on the findings of a joint needs assessment conducted in 2008 by the World Bank and the UN with the participation of the European Commission.

Financial information

UNHCR's budget in Georgia rose dramatically in 2008 in response to large-scale displacement in the aftermath of the August conflict. In 2009, Georgia was a pilot country for UNHCR's global needs assessment, which highlighted further needs, particularly for shelter activities. In 2010-2011, nearly 50 per cent of the budget will go towards basic needs and services for IDPs and refugees. The Office aims to strengthen protection documentation to reduce the risk of statelessness. UNHCR plans to phase down assistance to IDPs in 2011.

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011