Day: June 5, 2024

US asylum rules tightened

US President Joe Biden has signed an order tightening asylum rules. According to the new regulations, individuals crossing the country’s border illegally will be denied asylum and deported with a five-year ban on re-entry to the United States.

This is important news for Georgia, as in recent years, thousands of its citizens have migrated to the US through Mexico in search of a better life, fleeing unemployment and poverty. Emigration remains a significant challenge for the country—official statistics show that in 2023, 245,064 people emigrated from Georgia, marking a 95.6% increase compared to 2022.

The new measures will take effect immediately in the US and will apply to unaccompanied children as well as illegal immigrants who are deemed to be ‘at serious risk to their health and safety,’ and victims of human trafficking.

However, these rules will be temporary and will only be activated during periods when the average number of illegal migrants detained at the border exceeds 2,500 per day, and will be lifted when this number drops to 1,500 per day.

The details of how deportation will be carried out remain unclear.

Reuters compares these measures to the policies of former US President Donald Trump. Upon assuming office in 2021, Joe Biden immediately rescinded the state of emergency at the border with Mexico, imposed by Trump in 2019. Biden also abandoned the construction of a border wall along the Mexico border, as Trump had planned to do.

US asylum rules tightened

Armenia supports a UN resolution

On June 4th, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution “On the Status of Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali/South Ossetian Region,” affirming the right of all displaced persons to return to Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. Armenia supported the resolution for the first time, while China, Georgia’s new strategic partner, abstained from voting.

Overall, the resolution was supported by 103 countries. Nine countries, including Russia, Belarus, North Korea, and Syria, voted against it. Fifty-two countries abstained.

The previous year, a resolution of similar content had 100 supporters, while from 2018 to 2022, the number of votes in favor fluctuated between 79 and 95.

Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili stated that China’s abstention from voting on the UN resolution “equates to support”:

“Some of our friends and partner countries sometimes take a cautious position, which is because both they and Georgia sometimes have specific approaches and decisions based on their own agenda. In this case, abstention equals support.“

Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili thanked the countries that supported the resolution on Twitter:

“Thank you very much to the international community for the unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia,” Darchiashvili wrote. He did not mention China in his post.

Representative of Armenia at the UN, Mher Margaryan, clarified Armenia’s position, stating that the country has long supported peaceful conflict resolution within the framework of international rules and laws.

He also affirmed Armenia’s support for fundamental human rights, including those of individuals affected by conflict and forced to leave their homes.

According to him, Armenia emphasizes its full support for the territorial integrity of Georgia in the spirit outlined in the agreement on strategic partnership concluded between Tbilisi and Yerevan in January 2024.

“In this regard, Armenia supports the return of displaced persons to South Ossetia and Abkhazia in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Margaryan said.

Armenia supports a UN resolution

Armenia News  NEWS.am

Armenian, Slovenian legislators address the security situation in the South Caucasus and Europe  ARMENPRESS

After Georgian lawmakers passed a controversial “foreign agent” bill into law, protests against the legislation are continuing, even beyond the capital. A team of mountaineers made a weeklong trek to a peak in the Caucasus to fly the flags of Georgia and the EU in a show of support for the protest movement and for the country’s European aspirations.