On November 20, 2013, refugee cases in practice of courts workshop took place in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Republic of Belarus. The participants of the workshop were the following: representatives of the UNHCR Office, Human Rights Consultant of the UN Representation in the Republic of Belarus, Senior coordinator on the Protection of children’s rights of the United Nations Children's Fund, Main Specialist of the Division on Refugees and Asylum Issues of the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Chairman and Judge of the Minsk Court of Central District, judges of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus and Minsk City Court, Advocate of the Specialized Advocate Bureau No 1 of Minsk City, and Head of Legal Unit of Refugee Counselling Service of the “Belarusian Movement of Medical Workers”. The main purpose of the workshop was the discussion of the characteristics of judicial review of the refugee cases.
The workshop was opened by Jean Yves Bouchardy, UNHCR Representative in Belarus. He welcomed the participants and drew attention to the fact that the issues discussed and the topic of the meeting do not lose their relevance, despite the fact that the courts of Belarus have no so many cases involving refugees in comparison with many other countries, and expressed the hope to continue fruitful cooperation in this area.
Then representatives of the UN system made the following presentations “Limits of memory in Refugee Status Determination”, “Human rights in brief”, and “Children’s human rights. These topics were presented to the participants as during the examination of the refugee cases decisions are made on the basis of the data which people (including children) recalled from memory, therefore, that are the elements provided for the assessment and pronouncement of the final decision on the case. During the second part of the workshop organizers gave a definition of persecution in the context of Refugee Status Determination, and told about the Internal Flight or Relocation Alternative in the context of refugee status determination procedure. After the presentations the discussion of the current situation on the issues of refugees and asylum in the Republic of Belarus was held.
Holding of such workshops strengthens cooperation between UNHCR and state bodies, allows to improve the skills of staff working on the consideration of applications for protection, and also has a positive effect on strengthening the capacity of the judicial system of the Republic of Belarus in the sphere of consideration the issues of granting refugee status.