Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the UN High Co-mmissioner for Refugees visited Georgia during 4-6 September. The main goal of her visit was to get familiar with the situation in the country as well as to monitor the activities of the UNHCR.

Geneva hosted the penultimate meeting of the Steering Group for the CIS Conference on June 22-24, 1999. Just recently the official report of the meeting was published. In this article we would like to devote your attention to some of the issues that were expressed in concluding remarks of this report.

Assisting the development of the civil society in the Newly Independent States has long entered the phase of the strategic planning leaving behind the political declarations. Numerous international conferences dealing with the issues in given region connote both unofficial consultation process and the official declarations.

GYLA is one of the most developed and influential NGOs in Georgia. Refugees and IDPs are among the various target groups the Association works with and the activities connected with them are mainly carried out in cooperation with UNHCR.

The forced migration represents certain type of the international migration processes and can be viewed as a result of the global or local upheavals and radical changes. It differs from the labor migration by its causes, components and forms.

Since wartime starting in 1992, many international agencies have established in Georgia to support the victims of war, the many IDP's living all over the country. Many of the agencies brought relief in the critical time of war and post-war, but many of them have left the country again.

In January-August 1999 the United Nations Association of Georgia in cooperation with UNHCR NGO Fund implemented the assessment project. The aim of the program was to evaluate the potential of the non-governmental organizations in various regions of Georgia to deal with IDP and migration-related issues and facilitate recommendations for enhancement of their role.