Hundreds of refugees from Iraq, Syria take shelter in Georgia
Xinhua, April 16, 2015 Adjust font size:
Georgia opens its doors to asylum seekers from Syria and Iraq, said the Georgian Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons, Resettlement and Refugees.
The ministry said that refugee status was granted to 77 Iraqis, while 217 got humanitarian status as of now. Moreover, 355 people from Iraq are registered as asylum seekers and 333 were denied status in Georgia. In other cases, applicants left the country during the review process.
As for Syria, since 2012, 167 Syrians have applied for refugee status in Georgia, among whom five were granted refugee status, 62 got humanitarian status and 18 people were denied any status due to security reasons. The remaining cases are now being reviewed.
According to the ministry, security concerns account for most of the denials. "We don't grant status to those who were fighting in some informal armed groups, torturing people, etc.," a representative from the ministry said. Endi