On 10th and 11th October 2018, the Charity Centre for Refugees (CCR), partner of UNHCR and Bureau for Migration and Asylum Moldova, coordinated several meetings of Ms. Yolande Ditewig, Ms. Olivera Vukotic and Ms. Riikka Peltonen Quijano, representatives of the Regional Office of UNHCR in Budapest, with interested stakeholders and refugees.
The purpose of the meetings was to determine the further intervention plan and response on the refugee situation in Moldova and to elucidate the overall refugee situation and issues our beneficiaries encounter in the host country.
In this regard, the visitors were interested to discuss with refugees that live in social houses in rural communities such as Mereni to identify the drawbacks, but also the successful stories while integrating into local society. At the same time, there was a meeting with administration of Galata gymnasium where some refugee and asylum-seeking children are studying to see how the methods that school implements encourages children to build cohesion and solidarity while multicultural environment.
There was organised a meeting of refugee and asylum-seeking community with representatives of the Regional Office of UNHCR in Budapest to identify the issues they face with, successful stories of integration in local labour market, knowledge of Romanian language, employment challenges and other.
It is worth to mention that the visit of the UNHCR representatives from the Regional Office in Budapest comes after the decision to cease the mandate of UNHCR Office in Moldova at the end of this year. Consultation with partners, including with CCR aimed at identifying the modalities to further implement programmes of integration for refugees directly from Budapest. Thus, CCR explained the ongoing projects, spectrum of activities and external resources that complements the UNHCR project.
Doina Crăciun, CCR Project Assistant