UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner calls for improved access to pensions for the internally displaced and other rights
UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Mr. George Okoth-Obbo visits Maiorsk checkpoint. © UNHCR/Hugo Reichenberger
The Assistant High Commissioner met with a number of refugees in the capital of Kyiv, noting their experiences and challenges, as well as with UNHCR’s NGO partners that support them.
In a meeting with Ukraine’s Vice Minister of Internal Affairs, Ms. Tetiana Kovalchuk, Mr. Okoth-Obbo shared UNHCR’s concerns over the low recognition rate for asylum-seekers. He also urged the authorities to facilitate access for UNHCR and its partners to asylum-seekers in international transit zones at airports to provide legal assistance.
“It is of concern to UNHCR that some asylum-seekers, especially Syrians, are not allowed to lodge asylum claims at airports,” said Mr. Okoth-Obbo. “Allowed access to them, UNHCR will be able to support the asylum-seekers in their applications, while also extending the necessary cooperation to the State Migration Service.”
Mr. Okoth-Obbo later traveled to eastern Ukraine where he observed UNHCR’s activities on the ground and met with people in need of humanitarian assistance. His first stop was at a school in Bogorodishna near Sviatohirsk, which is providing education to both local and internally displaced children. Afterwards, he met with a group of internally displaced people (IDPs) of different ages at a community center run by UNHCR partner Slavic Heart. The group highlighted the difficulties they face in accessing their pensions, the risk of being unable to pay for and losing their accommodation at the centers at which they are staying, poor living conditions at the centers and their hopes of being able to exercise voting rights in local elections.
Statement by Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to mark International Women’s Day
GENEVA, Switzerland, 8 March, 2018 – This year’s International Women’s Day comes on the heels of a powerful global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice.
Its theme – “Time is Now” – comes at the right moment. And it also echoes UNHCR’s firm commitment to uphold the rights of women and girls, and to ensure that our work to secure protection and solutions for displaced and stateless people takes full account of age, gender and diversity.
UNHCR helps to develop the next generation of Ukrainian leaders
This fall, Donetsk city hosted the School of Young Leaders, a project aimed to develop management and leadership skills of socially active youth from the Donbas region. The School was organized by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with the support from the European School and the Donbass Development Center (DDC), both UNHCR project partners.
Call for Applications for 2018 DAFI Scholarship for refugees in Ukraine
Would you like to earn a University degree or diploma?
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency invites to apply for new DAFI scholarships programme, funded by the German Government and administered by UNHCR, with the goal of helping refugee students to access higher education.
UNHCR report exposes the discrimination pervading the life of stateless minorities worldwide
GENEVA/KYIV, 3 November 2017 (UNHCR). A new UNHCR report warns that discrimination, exclusion and persecution are stark realities for many of the world’s stateless minorities, and calls for immediate action to secure equal nationality rights for all.
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