Georgia Closes Doors to Refugees in Shadow of Relations with Tehran

While human rights organizations warn of continued persecution of Iranian Christians, Georgia, prioritizing political and economic relations, has severely restricted the process of granting asylum to these citizens.

International human rights organizations have announced in a recent report that Iranian Christian citizens who have fled pressure and religious discrimination in their own country have faced widespread rejection of their asylum applications in Georgia as well.

According to this report published by a coalition of Christian human rights organizations including “Article 18,” “Open Doors,” “Christian Solidarity Worldwide,” and “Middle East Concern,” the Georgian government in recent years has, citing doubt about the “authenticity of faith” of these citizens, refrained from accepting the vast majority of cases.

According to Christian Post, over the past three years, out of more than one thousand asylum applications from Iranians in Georgia, less than one percent have been approved. This is while Iranians constitute approximately one-fifth of the total refugee population in the country.

“Jalal Darzi,” one of these citizens, says his application was rejected after he was unable to answer questions about Georgian Orthodox Christianity during an interview session. He said in this regard: “I felt the whole thing was procedural and they had already made their decision beforehand.”

Analysts attribute the main reason for this process to Tbilisi’s expanding relations with Tehran. Based on official data, the volume of trade between the two countries in 2023 reached over 270 million dollars, and some unofficial estimates put the actual figure at up to 500 million dollars. One of the lawyers active in the refugee field, who did not wish to be named, says: “When you need good relations with your big neighbor, you cannot grant citizens of that country refugee status.”

These pressures are sometimes also applied directly to Christian activists. According to this report, in July 2024, priest “Reza Fazeli” was summoned by Georgia’s security service and asked to limit his church activities. Security officials informed him that diplomatic obligations take priority over asylum laws.

In contrast, Georgia’s Immigration Bureau, in defense of its policies, claims that Iranian Christians would not face serious threats if they return to their country, a claim that is in complete contradiction with reports from the United Nations and independent international bodies regarding the detention and persecution of Christian citizens in Iran.

Finally, the organizations that prepared this report have asked the Georgian government to “respect the diversity of Christian beliefs” and to pay attention to the data from the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief regarding the situation of religious freedom in Iran in its decision-making. They have also called on the international community to provide new safe and legal pathways for the resettlement of these refugees.