4 November 2009 UNHCR Office in Republic of Belarus organized a meeting of multifunctional group on refugee issues.
Representatives of the UNHCR, the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Belarusian Movement of Medical Workers, Center for Children and Adolescents “Evrika”, Belarusian Red Cross, INA “Evolutio”, Belarusian Young Women Christian Association, Afghan and Georgian refugee communities in the Republic of Belarus took part in the meeting.
During the event, the results of refugee needs, which were identified during the joint assessment, were presented. Issues related to informing the refugees about the Belarusian society, awareness of refugees about their rights, housing problems, social housing for vulnerable refugees, the language barrier, the problem of language proficiency, willingness/unwillingness to learn the language; professional orientation of children-refugees, issues related to domestic violence towards women-refugee; relationship with the local population, the issues of tolerance were discussed during the meeting. Participants’ presentations were followed by discussions in the result of which possible actions to solve the identified urgent needs were found out. As it turned out, most of the proposals, which offered by participants, have been already taken into account by UNHCR.
Participants of the meeting marked that a lot of work is done for successful integration of refugees into Belarusian society. However, refugees should take more active part in UNHCR programs, which aim is to assist refugees and to facilitate their integration into Belarusian society.