Georgia: Emmaus Geo is supporting refugees

The war in Ukraine has triggered a wave of solidarity in Europe and around the world. The Emmaus groups located in the countries neighbouring Ukraine are helping refugees, with each group running initiatives that draw on their know-how, such as the initiative run by Emmaus Geo in Georgia.

Since it was founded, Emmaus Geo has been working with the Georgians displaced following the annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia in 2008. Working in several locations in the Tbilisi suburbs, on the brownfield sites where many displaced people have settled, Emmaus Geo hands out clothing, hot meals and food. This Emmaus group also helps them with their administrative and legal formalities.

Since late February, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Emmaus Geo has been doing the same work with Ukrainians fleeing the fighting: handing out crockery, clothing (over 500kg since early March), beds for children, and food. Thanks to Emmaus Europe’s Ukraine Fund, the association is going to be able to provide over 500 hygiene kits for refugees.

At the present time, over 30,000 people from Ukraine have taken refuge in Georgia, and roughly 500 new people arrive every day. They travel by plane or car, via Poland, Armenia, Austria or Turkey, in the main.

Just like Croatia, Georgia has had strong links with Ukraine since the various wars that have brought it into conflict with Russia. In 1993 and 2008, Ukraine supported the Georgian army by sending soldiers to fight side by side with the Georgians. The Russian invasion has further strengthened the bonds between the two countries.

Emmaus Geo – the movement’s first member group in Georgia

Emmaus Geo was founded in 2015 and aims to help the most deprived people in Georgia by supporting and housing vulnerable people, and handing out essentials (clothing, food, school supplies, etc.). An Emmaus group since 2017, that same year also saw Emmaus Geo acquire a residential building enabling the group to house five companions involved in its income-generating activity. The association’s main activities are collecting and selling clothing in two shops located in Tbilisi and Kvareli, as well as outreach work with vulnerable communities in the Tbilisi suburbs, supporting roughly 300 families.

Coordinated solidarity in response to the situation in Ukraine

The Ukraine Fund, comprising donations made by Emmaus groups worldwide, supports the everyday work of our groups in Ukraine and Poland. This fund is also used to support one-off initiatives set up in the countries of Eastern Europe to primarily house and support refugees. Emmaus Europe centralises the donations and is supporting the groups based on the Ukraine war-related expenses that they incur every month.

Defending human rights / Migration News

European Social Economy Summit in Strasbourg

Emmaus Europe held a roundtable with its circular economy partners to coincide with the release of the European Action Plan for the Social Economy presented at the 5-6 May summit.

With RREUSE, Emmaus France, ENVIE Federation, City of Paris and Les Canaux, Emmaus Europe reiterated the vital role played by social economy stakeholders in the circular economy. As reuse pioneers, our organisations create more jobs than all the other stakeholders in the same reuse sector, according to a French study by Ademe.

However, they are now facing competition from the second-hand market, partly because of European waste sorting regulations, but primarily because of unremitting global overproduction and the abolition of import quotas in the early 2000s. We stressed the importance of developing European regulations to limit overproduction and overconsumption, notably by working upstream on product repairability. We also suggested carving out a bigger space for social economy stakeholders and moving away from the ethos of competing with non-social enterprises.

The French participants also shared their experience of implementing Extended Producer Responsibility through producer responsibility organisations (PROs), and the fact that this experience has spurred them to call for reform of their governance. PROs are currently solely managed by producers, and must make more room for social economy stakeholders and public institutions so that funds are shared out in a more social and environmentally-friendly way.

The roundtable participants all praised the progress made in the action plan, which is the first of its kind. However, they stressed the need to go further at individual Member State level for its upcoming implementation, notably by linking up with environmental and circular economy regulations, and by securing state or producer funding, so that local government does not shoulder all the burden.

The recording of the meeting and other information will be available over the coming weeks by clicking here.

Circular economy / The environment European Union News

Croatia – welcoming Ukrainian refugees

CNZD (Centre for Missing and Exploited Children) is helping over 350 people who have fled Ukraine to Croatia. In a short space of time, this trial member group of the Emmaus Movement has opened a centre for children traumatised by the conflict, and an information centre for refugees.

The Children’s Corner – a safe space to rest and integrate

CNZD specialises in supporting child and teenage victims of trauma, and right from the start of the conflict in Ukraine the organisation opened a Children’s Corner (children’s centre), and is hoping to be able to open two others in the near future. The facility is managed by a teacher, psychologist and an interpreter, and enables 15 children, who are traumatised by the war, to be given support every day (70 children have registered to date). The centre’s aim is to provide counselling for these children, and lay the foundations enabling them to integrate into Croatian society and the local education system.

Accompanied by their parents, the children spend a few hours a day at the centre, and can have a rest, enjoy a hot meal, and speak to the association’s psychologist. They can also follow online lessons in Ukrainian. The parents remain at the centre while their children are being supported by the team in order not to reproduce separation trauma. A few weeks on, progress is already being made, and the children no longer feel the need to return to their parents as often as before.

The Information Centre – playing a crucial role in integrating Ukrainian refugees

This centre is unique in Croatia and is managed by CNZD. It offers refugees all the information needed to integrate: asylum applications, entering the labour market, registering for Croatian language lessons, administrative formalities advice, applying for benefits and to join the health insurance scheme… In the space of three weeks, close to 400 people have passed through the centre, which is managed by a lawyer and an interpreter employed full time by CNZD. Open from Monday to Friday, the centre also relies on volunteers, who work shifts to provide this service for refugees. Many regions in Croatia are drawing inspiration from the model created by CNZD and are opening similar centres.

A couple and their five children arrived at Osijek in the first days of the conflict. The parents speak fluent Croat because they lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina for many years, and have been hired by CNZD as interpreters. The team has nicknamed them the “stars of CNZD” because of the many media interviews they have done.

Ukrainian refugees in Croatia

Croatia has taken in over 13,000 people from Ukraine, and some 300-500 people arrive every day. Close to 95% of them are women and children. Housed in hotels, youth hostels or flats, they are given three meals a day and the toiletries that they need.

Ukraine and Croatia have strong links because of their shared history (Ukraine was one of the first countries to recognise Croatian independence in 1991) and their very similar languages. Croatia was at war from 1991-1995, and consequently has recent experience of armed conflict and the resulting traumas. The siege of Mariupol is a painful reminder of the 87-day siege of Vukovar in 1991. The city was razed to the ground by bombing. The Croatian people’s reaction is living up to the close links between the countries: everything possible is being done to help Ukrainians enter the labour market and access education, and each person needs to feel safe and welcome in Croatia.

Defending human rights / Migration News

The Balkan Route – supporting the Emmaus groups

A discussion with Maria Luisa Testori, the leader of the Italian community Emmaus Erba, and a Councellor of Emmaus International. She tells us about the campaign launched in Italy to support the initiatives run by Emmaus in Bosnia along the Balkan Route.

Emmaus Italy has been supporting the Bosnian group Emmaus-ISF for many years. What are the origins of this solidarity connection?

Emmaus Italy (and subsequently Emmaus France and Emmaus International) rallied round to help refugees in the Vukovar region when the civil war broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1992. We continued to help the refugee families who were trying to return home after the war. At this time, a partnership got underway with a group, an offshoot of the Red Crescent, which joined forces with Emmaus and took the name of ISF (International Solidarity Forum). The various initiatives undertaken stemmed from this focus on the migrant question.

We hear a lot about the migration crisis on the Balkan Route. Can you tell us what is happening at the moment?

According to the data recently provided by Leila S from ISF, the number of migrants has dropped from 29,196 in 2019 to 15,488 in 2021. This drop in the number of people travelling through Bosnia is also caused by the reopening of the Hungary-Romania route, as highlighted by workers on the ground. However, the situation in Bosnia is still disastrous and concerning with an increase in family arrivals since the Taliban took control in Afghanistan. The Lipa camp has been rebuilt following the 2020 fire, but the migrants do not want to enter it, preferring to live in hiding in squats in the woods closest to the border. In addition to destroying makeshift camps, lately the police have also banned the outdoor distribution of food.

Emmaus Italy has therefore launched a campaign in support, can you tell us more?

Emmaus Italy is particularly mindful of the migration crisis, as our country is significantly impacted by this phenomenon. Our longstanding links with ISF have made us go above and beyond the initiatives that some Emmaus groups were already running in order to foster a shared commitment by the Emmaus Movement. Along these lines, we launched a fundraiser in 2020, which continues to this day. This campaign aims to raise awareness about the migration crisis and provide funding for a tangible grassroots initiative. Emmaus-ISF helps thousands of refugees every year by providing them with meals, clothing, and the opportunity to have a wash or charge their mobile phones. They do everything they can on a daily basis to deal with the refugees’ most urgent needs.

You have supported the publication and distribution of the book The Game, whose title refers to migrants’ attempts to cross the Croatian border. How is this book an important testimony?

At one point our paths crossed with Pietro Floridia, a theatre director, and Sara Pour, an Iranian illustrator. In Bosnia, Sara, who speaks Farsi, collected the story of one of the many young people who have attempted “the game”, and the account became an illustrated book. At Emmaus Italy, we decided to publish it, as we are convinced that culture is also a form of support, a language that can even reach children.

Bosnia Herzegovina Defending human rights / Migration Italy News