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Georgian Embassies in Foreign Countries are Inaccessible to Georgian Citizens

July 27, 2006

Georgian Embassies in Foreign Countries are Inaccessible to Georgian Citizens

Georgian embassies and consulates in other countries are not supporting the victims of trafficking or people suffering from other problems. The main reason for this is the lack of information about trafficking. Also phone numbers or responsible people who can help victims do not exist. Migrants are complaining that they only reach voice mail when they call.

According to the Plan of Action against Trafficking, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for hiring responsible people in every consulate who will support Georgian citizens in such cases. The Plan of Action will finish in six months; however this aspect of the plan has not been fulfilled yet.

Not only the victims of trafficking but other people in need, have problems reaching Georgian embassies. According to George Ghlonti, a professor of Criminology, such problems exist in almost every embassy. “It is a general problem, because consulates do not have a person responsible for this. This is the main problem. People can have various difficulties, like problems with police, with landlords, etc. Who can they ask for help? Of course – they have to go to the embassy. They should have some finances, to support them with shelter, or give them contacts. Quite often migrants do not know the language and they are unprotected”. 

The respondent says that the embassies in foreign countries have services for their citizens in need of urgent help. A migrant dials specific number and the operator gives him or her information that the person is interested in. Giorgi Ghlonti thinks that the embassies should not contact Georgian citizens by fax. “Quite often, representatives of the consulates ask people to send their demands by fax, which is completely wrong. Who knows if they need immediate help?!” asks Ghlonti.

One of the organizations receiving information about migrants is the International Organization of Migration (IOM). IOM is the organization which people in need contact. According to Marc Hulst, the representative of IOM in Georgia, the service in the consulates and embassies has improved, however more has to be done. “We have negative and positive aspects of embassies’ service”, says Hulst.

The fact that reaching embassies is quite tough is confirmed by ordinary citizens and journalists as well. Nino Gvedashvili, a journalist of the Human Right Information and Documentation Centre recalls one of the incidents: “I was in the territory of so called Saingilo, in Azerbaijan in 2005, where people were complaining about almost no attention from the embassies. I was working on one topic myself and needed official information from the Azeri Embassy. Although I sent several emails to the Ambassador, he never replied to me. Inhabitants of the Zakatala-Belakani district say that they have never seen anyone from the Embassy. They sometimes come with an official delegation but it is impossible to talk with them because of the guards.”

The same complaints are leveled in the direction of the Turkish Embassy. According to Ketevan Sokhadze states: “I was going to Turkey for business. I wanted to discuss this meeting with the Embassy and also wanted to ask for some official information from them. But I got nothing except for voice mail for two weeks”.

I also experienced one concrete example, connected with the Embassy of the UK in Georgia. I called the number, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave me. However, I also only had the option to hear voice mail in different languages and to press different buttons on the phone. I was not lucky enough to talk with anyone not automated.

Eka Gulua

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