This support will enable the SFA and other actors in the mixed migration space to conduct early identification of protection needs and channel the migrants and refugees towards an appropriate solution.
A meeting between the UNHCR Representative Lucie Gagné and the Director of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs Slobodan Ujić took place today at the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs (SFA) premises regarding the support of the UN Agency for Refugees to the SFA work on collecting more reliable and detailed information on the migrants and refugees at time of registration. In this regard, UNHCR donated 24 tablets with translation application to facilitate the communication between SFA and the registering individuals.
On this occasion, 10,000 protective masks were handed over to the SFA for their field offices of the Service, and in the earlier period UNHCR donated about fifty protective plexiglass panels to protect the employees of the SFA in the context of COVID-19 measures.
The Director of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs Slobodan Ujić, thanked for the cooperation and assistance, and noted that UNHCR is one of the most important partners of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs. Mr. Ujić also pointed out that the donated equipment will increase the technical capacities of the Service, and facilitate communication and increase the efficiency of its inspectors working with migrants and asylum-seekers, which will enable easier identification of different categories, especially vulnerable ones among that population.
This technical support will bridge the current gap in lack of interpreter services available to the SFA and enable the SFA to conduct more accurate communications with new arrivals to BiH and thorough information gathering during registrations.
Apart from the technical support, UNHCR will conduct capacity-building activities through training sessions and on-the-spot coaching to it’s SFA staff conducting registration of persons who intend to seek asylum in BiH.
The trainings will cover essential identity management principles and standards on data integrity, fraud mitigation and information gathering techniques.
„This support will enable the SFA and other actors in the mixed migration space to conduct early identification of protection needs and channel the migrants and refugees towards an appropriate solution,“ concluded UNHCR Representative Lucie Gagné.
The procurement of the ICT equipment is funded by the European Union Service for Foreign Policy Instruments within the project “Addressing COVID-19 Challenges within the Migrant and Refugee Response in the Western Balkans”.
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