The Migration Problem at the Regional Security Level: Reasons for Georgian Migration Abroad

Migration has become one of the most current themes in the reality of Georgian society since the destruction of the Soviet Union. However, this process dates backs to the twentieth century in the history of Georgian migration. Wars, chaos and turmoil, geopolitical location, and social and political conflicts constantly triggered the population to migrate either within the country or abroad. The most recent history of Georgian migration can be divided into several waves or phases: 1. Before the 1950s (Soviet Union regime), when the population was forced to leave their living place by brutal political repressions; 2. In the period of the 1950s to the 1990s, when Georgians migrated within the territory of the Soviet Union Republic; 3. The mass migration of the 1990s, which was caused by social crisis, economic hardship, political turmoil, military conflicts (including inter-ethnic conflicts in Abkhazia (1992–1993) and South Ossetia (1988–1992) and the civil war of 1993, against the democratically elected Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia; 4. The later migration outflow from Georgia was mainly recorded in 2000, when a huge wave of migrants went to Russia but, as the visa regime had been restricted, Georgian citizens had to choose another destination. This time migrants headed to European countries and the USA. It has to be mentioned that since 2002, the emigration process has become more and more diverse as the motivation of migrants varied as well as the places of destination. Unfortunately, the data that reflects the precise picture of migration in Georgia does not exist. Even the official data cannot be acknowledged as accurate information about the migrants or migration because of the absence of a precise mechanism that collects reliable statistical information. It depicts data based on various sources and methodologies that should be taken into consideration when highlighting the number of migrants.beraia_eka@yahoo.comEka Beraia – PhD, Assistant Professor atthe Faculty of American Studies, International Black Sea University (Tbilisi); member of the team of scholars at the Georgian Geostrategic Euro-Atlantic Integration Institute (GEAI); Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Caucasus International University (Georgia).International Black Sea University, GeorgiaAntelava L, Status of a woman and Style of family life-Gender problems in Georgia, Tbilisi 2002.Article 3 of the UN Protocol (2017, November): to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_cicp_convention. html.Assessment of U.S. activities to combat traffi cking in persons (2003, August) U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/wetf/us_assessment.pdf.Badurashvili I., Illegal Migrants from Georgia: Labor Market Experiences and Remittance Behavior, Georgian Centre of Population Research 2012, http://www.carim-east.eu/media/CARIM-East2012-RR-39.pdf.Badurashvili I., Determinants and Consequences of Irregular Migration in a Society under Transition: The Case of Georgia, (in:) Population Association of America Annual Meeting. Philadelphia 2004, http://paa2008.princeton.edu/papers/80486.Broverman F. E., Inge K., Raymond S., Vogel D. M., Sex-role stereotypes: A current appraisal. “Journal of Social Issues”, 1972 no. 28.Dannecker P., Transnational Migration and the Transformation of Gender Relations: The Case of Bangladeshi Labour Migrants, “Current Sociology” 2005, no. 53.Dershem L., Khoperia T., The Status of Households in Georgia. Final Report. Tbilisi: USAID, Save the Children, IPM 166–18.Europol Public Information (2011, September 1) Crime Assessment - Trafficking of Human Beings into the European Union, https: //trafficking-in-human-beings-in-the-european-union-2011.pdf.Foner N., Immigrant women and work in New York City, then and now. “Journal of American Ethnic History”, 1999 vol. 18, no. 3.Javakhishvili N. and N. Buthsashvili, Domestic Violence in Georgia: State and Community Responses, 2006–2015 (in:) M. Barkaia and A. Waterson (eds.), Gender in Georgia: Feminist Perspectives on Culture, Nation and History in the South Caucasus, New York 2018.Lutz H., Life in the Twilight Zone: Migration, Transnationality, and Gender in the Private Household, ”Journal of Contemporary European Studies”, 2004 vol. 12, no. 1.Shioshvili T., American Ethnicity, Tbilisi 2016.UNICEF, UNHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeastern Europe, https://www.osce.org/odihr/18540?download=true.US Department of State Trafficking in Persons report, http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2003/.Yale-Loehr, Why Are So Many People Challenging Board of Immigration Appeals Decisions in Federal Court?, Cornell University Law School 2005, https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1860&context=facpub.26111712