Funding for project to support conscientious objectors from the war in Ukraine
Counselling for deserters and conscientious objectors from the Russian – Ukrainian war in the South Caucasus.
Description of the situation:
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, thousands of refugees from Ukraine went to Georgia. At one point, the number of refugees from Ukraine to Georgia amounted to 30,000 people. At the moment, there are still almost 17,000 Ukrainian refugees in Georgia. Unlike the Ukrainian refugees who went to Europe, in many cases complete families of Ukrainian refugees came to Georgia, including husbands, fathers, brothers – men of “military age” .
Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine , some Russian citizens decided to leave their country for various reasons. One of the countries to which Russians began to leave was Georgia. This first wave of emigration was relatively small, but included mainly people who disagreed with the political regime that rules Russia.
As of February 2024, the number of Russians remaining in Georgia was just over 100,000 people. Approximately the same number of Russians stays in Armenia. Some of them are conscientious objectors and deserters.
Description of the Project:
September 2022 to May 2024 Mikheil Elizbarashvili provided counselling to conscientious objectors and deserters from Russia /Ukraine war , staying in the South Caucasus.
From September 2022 till 1 June 2024 Mikheil Elizbarashvili provided counselling to conscientious objectors to military service in the South Caucasus. This project has been finished and the new one was not started .Mikheil has a lot of experience in communication and counselling to deserters, draft evaders and conscientious objectors. Since June 2024 he has been doing counselling for free as a volunteer.
It is now suggested that the project will be taken over by an official organisation :- «Religious Society of Friends, Quakers in Georgia« will be implementing the project in Georgia and Armenia.
The core work of the project is a series of individual and group consultation and assistance sessions, conducted mainly online. Individual consultations are supplemented by a weekly group meetings, to which may be invited experts in various fields to give advice on topics of interest to the group – for example a recent meeting included a lecture by an expert in cybersecurity. It is envisaged also that members of the FWCC-EMES Peace and Service Network would attend some of these meetings to assist with communication and counselling.
Once every three months there will be a zoom conference where the project coordinator will report on the work and share news and updates, where other speakers can contribute on relevant topics and where deserters and conscientious objectors themselves can share their stories and experiences.
Participants in the programme are identified partly through an established by Mikheil hotline via different apps including telegram, whatsapp, and viber, partly through reference by various organisations – including Vivozhuk, Go By the Forest, Emigration for Action and others – set up by Russians to help evacuate fellow-citizens who do not want to participate in the war. The project does not set itself up to pass judgement on the motives of those concerned; given that these people do not have access to conscientious objection provisions, it is assumed that by not wanting to participate in the war anyone deserves to be considered as a conscientious objector unless there is clear evidence to the contrary.
The co-ordinator’s activities to support the project include:
Maintenance and extension of a network of contacts and an information exchange among organisations working on conscientious objection both in South Caucasus and internationally.
Interviews with interested media, researchers, individuals and broadcasters in order to raise awareness about the issues.
Active administration and maintenance of the Georgian Pacifist Telegram channel launched in March 2024; on which more or less neutral posts (so as not to offend any potential subscribers) are beamed to citizens of Russia, Georgia and other countries, including conscientious objectors and deserters. Posts include information on conscientious objection in the Russia-Ukraine war; from November 2024 it is intended to add wider news and information on conscientious objection issues.
Administration of the telegram chat “Men’s space”, where deserters and conscientious objectors ( who stay in South Caucasus and already left it for the safe countries ) can exchange the information on the topic, news, give advices to each other, learn about the problems of each other and possibly provide assistance. The telegram chat was started in July 2024.
Giving individual and group consultation and assistance sessions on different topics, conducted mainly on-line to conscientious objectors and deserters.
Giving legal advice when the beneficiaries are in Georgia and sending them for legal advice and assistance to the Helsinki Group in Armenia, if they are in Armenia.
Helping conscientious objectors and deserters to prepare their cases and assistance in writing motivation letters for applying for humanitarian visas to EU countries ,while they stay in Georgia or Armenia.
Providing financial assistance in emergency cases to conscientious objectors and deserters.
Each case of providing the financial assistance will be considered and approved by Peace and Service Networks conscientious objectors subgroups members .
The most part of the project for counselling to deserters and conscientious objectors is planned to be done online.
Project coordinator Mikheil Elizbarashvili plans to spend 4 hours per day on the project or 20 hours per week and 80 hours per Month. It will be a part time job position with 50 % of the standard working time being spent on the counselling.
It is planned to start the counselling project on1 November 2024 and implement for 1 Year, with the possibility to continue for one more year.
The goal is to fundraise €9,200 for the first 12 months of the project, which will pay for the following:
Project coordinator’s Salary
Funding for financial assistance to conscientious objectors and deserters
Zoom and internet connection
Material costs
Bank charges.
Payment instructions:
The Religious Society of Friends(Quakers) Georgia did not wish to register as an ‘organisation of agent of foreign country’ (now a requirement in Georgia), it cannot receive the funding for the implementation of the project.
Contributions for this work can be sent to the Clerk of the Religious Society of Friends in Georgia, Mikheil Elizbarashvili, to the following account:
Beneficiary Bank ; JSC BASISBANK . TBILISI, GEORGIA
SWIFT : CBASGE22
Beneficiary name: Mikheil Elizbarashvili
IBAN : GE35BS0167000155736323
If you make a contribution you are requested to send an email confirmation to: quaker.ge@yahoo.com
