On September 17, the official opening of the Bureau for Information and Services for Foreign Citizens took place – a joint initiative of the Sofia Development Association, the Bulgarian Red Cross, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and „Vazrazhdane” Markets.

The Bureau will provide better conditions for easier access for third-country nationals to services provided by NGOs in Sofia and Sofia Municipality. Third country nationals will be able to receive information on trainings, programs and events and will be able to organize their own cultural events.

The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants supports the establishment and operation of the Bureau as part of its strategic efforts to support municipalities for the integration of refugees and expand opportunities for local development in Bulgaria.

The Information  Bureau for Foreign Citizens is located at 111, Hristo Botev Blvd., Sofia.

On 14 September, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, held a workshop on “Financial inclusion of refugees” for financial service providers and non-governmental organizations. The seminar addressed the issues of facilitating the access of refugees to financial services in Bulgaria, and presented information on the situation of refugees in the country and their needs for financial services, such as access to bank accounts and microcredit. Ms. Susanne Klink, Livelihood Officer, Bureau for Europe of the UNHCR, participated in the event and has shared good practices and her experience on the topic of financial inclusion of refugees. Mr. Milen Hristov presented the report “Access to financial services for asylum seekers in the Republic of Bulgaria”, commissioned by UNHCR. The seminar was attended by representatives of state institutions, banks, microcredit organizations and other financial service providers, as well as representatives of leading refugee assisting NGOs.

This MPG policy brief investigates to what extent the refugee integration policies analysed in NIEM are in line with the principles, values, and objectives of the EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion (2021-2027).

Policymakers and stakeholders may identify areas in which the EU Action Plan can help to address policy gaps and needs. Using NIEM results can also help to assess the success of the Action Plan in the coming years. Specific recommendations to the European Commission and Member States suggest how to foster the implementation of the Action Plan and make it more effective.

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The brief will be presented on a Webinar on the 17th of September 2021 between 15:00 and 16:30 (CET)

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Learn more about NIEM in Bulgaria >>>

The next webinar  of the Integration of Refugees Through Sport Network will take place on 15 September from 13.00–14.30 CEST and it is called “Include everyone!”, where two organisations from Austria and Romania will present their work with specific target groups of refugees and migrants.

In the second part of the webinar participants will be able to share thier experiences, challenges and possible solutions working with different target groups within the refugees and migrants.

More  information and registration>>>

The training of the new members of the Refugee Advisory Board “Introduction to International Protection” was organized on August 30. During the training, the new RAB members were introduced to the general topic of international protection and its global and context, as well as to the legal framework, challenges and good practices. In addition, the main aspects of communication and cooperation with refugee communities were widely presented and discussed together  with the Age, Gender, and Diversity Participatory Assessment (AGD PA). Particular emphasis was placed on refugee refugee-led initiatives, the refugee-led platform www.rumofree.org, and  the participation of refugees in the advocacy process.

The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants has launched Data and Figures Navigator. This is an information system providing visually summarized information about the asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection in Bulgaria. The information system is a logical addition to the developed information infrastructure for the stakeholders in the process of protection and integration of refugees. The provided data serves both to achieve higher awareness and in the process of planning and implementation of projects and programs related to the topic of protection and integration of refugees.

The information portal Data and Figures Navigator was developed and maintained within the implementation of the project “NIEM – National Integration Evaluation Mechanism”, funded by AMIF of the EU.

The system is available  online.

In the issue you will find information on the following topics:

▪ Statistics for Bulgaria in brief: January – June 2021

▪ Global Statistics for 2020 – UNHCR Global Trends Report

▪ June 20 – World Refugee Day “Together we heal, learn and shine”

▪ The power of inclusion – refugees at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic

▪ The role of refugee-led initiatives for integration in Bulgaria

▪ Strengthening the cooperation with municipalities and local authorities

▪ Laboratory for cooperation with non-governmental organizations and municipalities

▪ Teaching Bulgarian as a basis for integration of refugees

▪ The topic of tolerance through the integration of refugees in the meeting of the EVET Association

▪ An online platform exposes rumors rumorfree.org – a place for real information

▪ Refugees and vaccination – concerns and verified information

▪ The topic of refugees in the second module of the National Training Program of the Bulgarian School of Politics

▪ The second event of the Empowerment Business Community initiative

▪ Final of the project for student internships in support of refugees and migrants

▪ Held webinar with students from Sofia University

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On June 23, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, the Multi Kulti Collective, and the UNHCR Representation in Bulgaria held a Coalition Meeting: The Role of Refugee and Migrant Initiatives for the Integration of Refugees and Migrants in Bulgaria. The meeting provided a forum for presenting the main organizations and structures led by refugees in the field of integration. The agenda of the event included a presentation of the report of the European Integration Website (EWSI): Mapping of leading organizations led by refugees and migrants in the European Union. The other topics included the role of the refugee led organizations for integration of refugees and migrants in Bulgaria, the support to refugee and migrant communities, the way to strengthen links amongst refugee and migrant communities and institutions, as well as the link between refugee and migrant communities and the host society. The event provided an opportunity to discuss initiatives, to identify needs, and to generate ideas for future activities and partnerships. The Coalition Meeting is an attempt by the BCRM and partner organizations to involve refugees in policy making and capacity development of civil society structures for a supportive environment. The event was organized within the implementation of the project NIEM – National Integration Evaluation Mechanism, funded by AMIF of the EC.

The second issue for 2021 of the academic bulletin “Refugees: Today and Tomorrow” was prepared in cooperation between Multi Kulti Collective (MKC), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Bulgarian Council for Refugees and Migrants (BCRM) under the project “Capital of Tolerance in an Era of Pandemic: Students Connect Academic Community and NGOs for Refugees and Migrants”, funded by Sofia Municipality within the programme “Crisis as an Opportunity”. It is an entirely student issue and includes articles of the interns participating in the project who have successfully completed a two- or three-month internship in five NGOs (Bulgarian Red Cross, Caritas Sofia, Council of Refugee Women in Bulgaria, Foundation for Access to Rights and Centre for Legal Aid “Voice in Bulgaria”). During the internship, the students had the task to do some research for the academic bulletin on a topic that provoked their interest. Thus, the issue contains a thematic article on the challenges that NGOs face regarding financing, in-between projects and donors, based on the case of the Council of Refugee Women in Bulgaria. Some of the articles have a strong legal focus and address topics such as the procedure for issuing a D visa as a barrier to the right to privacy and family life and the position of unaccompanied minors in the context of family reunification. Two articles offer an understanding of the situation in countries of origin such as Libya and the Gaza Strip. There is also a section that examines various aspects in the field of integration like the role of learning Bulgarian language, involving refugees in art projects and the attitudes of the host society in the process of integration. The issue also presents a project by a team of young researchers from “Policy and Citizens Observatory: migration, digitalisation, climate”, who work to empower young refugees and migrants. The issue ends with an interesting article on building conscious and compassionate communities.

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Despite the pandemic, the number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations in 2020 rose to nearly 82.4 million people, according to UNHCR’s latest annual Global Trends report released today in Geneva. This is a further four per cent increase on top of the already record-high 79.5 million at the end of 2019.

The report shows that by the end of 2020 there were 20.7 million refugees under UNHCR mandate, 5.7 million Palestine refugees and 3.9 million Venezuelans displaced abroad. Another 48 million people were internally displaced (IDPs) within their own countries. A further 4.1 million were asylum-seekers. These numbers indicate that despite the pandemic and calls for a global ceasefire, conflict continued to chase people from their homes.