Shelter City in Georgia

About Shelter City Tbilisi, Georgia

The first international city to join the Shelter City network was the city of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Located between Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Tbilisi is strategically perfect to host human rights defenders in the region. It was founded in 2016 by Truth Hounds and Center for Participation and Development.

Shelter City Tbilisi offers a safe space to human rights defenders from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, and some parts of Ukraine. They offer temporary relocation, emergency relocation, and also provide relocation to immediate or dependent family members. In addition, Shelter City Tbilisi provides a variety of support and activities, include psychological well-being, trainings in security, and medical services.

About Shelter City Batumi

Batumi became the 16th city to join the Shelter City initiative in 2019. As one of the centres of Georgia, it is a place with a developed and inclusive civil society.

“Shelter beneficiaries can discover the famous Georgian hospitality, national characteristics, and all the passion and scale of Georgia here.” – Head of the Committee, Ilya Verdzadze

Shelter City Batumi has already received its first Shelter City guest from Chechnya and plans to provide support and protection to three and up to six human rights defenders per year including those with minors from Central Asia, Belarus, Russia and some parts of Ukraine. The new Shelter City will provide temporary relocation to HRDs at risk, medical services, educational training, and capacity building courses.

Upon further analysis of the needs of human rights defenders that were seen in Shelter City Tbilisi, Batumi will focus on hosting HRDs with dependents. Shelter City Batumi aims to host at least 4 of the 6 HRDs that they host each year with minor dependents.

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