On 18 June 2020, in the Temporary Reception Center Borići in Bihać (BiH), UNHCR, together with DRC and IOM Centre Management, organised a modest event gathering asylum-seekers and those awaiting registration of their asylum claim with BiH authorities to mark World Refugee Day.
On 18 June 2020, in the Temporary Reception Center Borići in Bihać (BiH), UNHCR, together with DRC and IOM Centre Management, organised a modest event gathering asylum-seekers and those awaiting registration of their asylum claim with BiH authorities to mark World Refugee Day.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 global pandemic and resurgence of racism and xenophobia, leaving no-one behind is now more important than ever. Close to 80 million people in the world today are forcibly displaced people and many of them are vulnerable and in need of solidarity and respect. For those in need of international assistance in BiH, UNHCR and our partners work towards provision of various types of assistance guided by the motto: each person needs to be safe for all of us to be safe, a lesson learned so well during last few months globally – said Rukiya Abdul Aziz in front of UNHCR FU Bihać addressing the gathered asylum seekers, representatives of partner organisations and agencies (IOM, UNICEF, DRC, ZsU) and representative of the USC Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Policy and Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, FU Bihać.
UNHCR partner Vaša Prava BiH, presented to the gathered asylum-seekers the newly implemented educational system enabling online schooling for refugees and asylum-seekers – Coursera. DRC Presented other current and planned educational and vocational trainings offered at centre level end encouraged the centre dwellers to take advantage of the opportunities designed to improve their lives and integration potentials. Vaša Prava Bih also presented their legal work at the centre and asylum-system in BiH in general aiming at those centre dwellers interested in applying for international protection in the country.
Furthermore, the group discussions were focusing on feedback received from asylum-seekers on their needs for information relevant to integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most frequently asked questions were related to the topic of documentation (unfortunately, the Sector for Asylum MoS has not registered asylum claims in Una-Sana Canton since October 2019) but also to topics very relevant for those genuinely wishing to seek safety and protection in BiH.
To that avail, UNHCR, DRC and Vaša Prava collated a series of individual questions in topic groups and intends, potentially together with relevant local authorities, to organise focus group discussion specifically targeting the areas of (re)qualification, resumption of higher education, housing opportunities, social welfare and access and opportunities at the labour market.
Together with DRC, in Una-Sana Canton, UNHCR implements a European Union funded project targeted at strengthening Community-based Protection in TRCs ensuring improved access to asylum system, identification and support to prospect asylum-seekers and mainstreaming general protection principles among asylum-seeking and migrant communities accommodated at the TRCs.
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