At the end of June, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants and the Association of Bulgarian Black Sea Municipalities, in partnership with the UNHCR Representation in Bulgaria, organized a joint information session on the reception of refugees from Ukraine, the possibilities for their social inclusion and integration, and the potential for local and regional development.

The Information Meeting was attended by representatives of the regional governments of Burgas, Dobrich and Razgrad, municipal administrations, the Council of Ministers, the State Agency for Refugees, the Ministry of Education and Science and NGOs involved in the reception and integration of refugees from Ukraine. On the one hand, the aim was to present the reception and integration policies of the persons granted temporary protection, the funding opportunities at the national and local level. On the other hand, the aim was to discuss the response of municipalities with an emphasis on access to services, possible solutions to challenges, optimization of capacity and resources and opportunities for future cooperation and partnership with civil society structures.

The event is part of the efforts of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to develop the capacity to assist and integrate refugees at the municipal level and as an opportunity for local social and economic development.

On 16 June, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants and the Multi-Culti Collective, in partnership with the UNHCR Representation in Bulgaria, held a final conference on the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) project.

On the eve of 20 June – International Refugee Day, the conference provided a forum to examine Bulgaria’s challenges and progress in refugee integration in a European context. A summary of the comparative evaluation report on integration in the 14 European countries participating in the project was presented. The event provided an opportunity to present proposals and outline next steps and measures to support refugees for inclusion and real integration in Bulgaria.

The National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) is a major research project in Europe on the topic of refugees with a duration of 6 years, which aims to prepare key actors in the field of integration in 15 EU Member States to better address current challenges and improve integration outcomes for beneficiaries of international protection.

Over the years of implementation, NIEM project partners have worked to establish a mechanism to comprehensively assess the integration of beneficiaries of international protection, provided evidence of gaps in integration standards, identified promising practices, and assessed the impact of changes to legislation and policies.

The final conference and the NIEM project are funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. More information about the project can be found on the Bulgaria project website as well as on the European project website.

On 14 June, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, in partnership with the UNHCR and the Multi-Culti Collective, held a meeting on advocacy for refugee integration in Bulgaria. The meeting was attended by representatives of NGOs, the Council of Ministers, local authorities, and the academic community. A Manifesto for the Integration of Refugees in Bulgaria was presented for discussion and consultation at the meeting. The Refugee Integration Manifesto is the result of a six-month process of joint development by representatives of all stakeholders as well as the refugees themselves.

The document is being developed with the aim of being a key program advocacy document for creating an effective integration system and supportive environment for the reception, inclusion, and integration of refugees in Bulgaria.

The Manifesto highlights the leading role of the state and local authorities and the importance of the participation of the civil sector in the refugee integration system. The Manifesto presents a model where both refugees and local communities can benefit from a two-way integration process.

The advocacy meeting and the creation of the Manifesto are part of the strategic activities of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants to develop the capacity to build an effective mechanism for the integration of refugees in Bulgaria as an opportunity for social and economic development at the local and national levels.

The meeting and the development of the Refugee Integration Manifesto were organized within the framework of the projects “Advocacy for Refugee Integration in Bulgaria”, funded by UNHCR, and “National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM)”, funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

On 2 June 2022, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, the UNHCR Representation in Bulgaria and the Sofia Development Association organised an Information Session on Integration of Refugees from Ukraine on the Territory of Sofia Municipality.

District and municipal administrations in the country should take the initiative and participate in the creation of working mechanisms to support the social inclusion and integration of refugees from Ukraine.  This is one of the main conclusions of the discussion meeting of the district administrations in Sofia Municipality with representatives of the Council of Ministers, the State Agency for Refugees, the Office of the Sofia Region Governor and NGOs. The meeting was attended by Ms. Krasimira Velichkova, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister Kalina Konstantinova, Mr. Tsvetelin Sofroniev, Deputy Governor of Sofia, Ms. Venera Milova, Secretary of Sofia Municipality. They discussed the possibilities of establishing day care centers for refugee children froom Ukraine during the summer, organizing Bulgarian language courses, supporting employment, housing, etc. Medium- and long-term planning of logistics chains, resourcing of municipal and regional structures, cooperation with the civil sector are key factors for successful management of such crises in the future.

The meeting was organized in the framework of the implementation of the project “Advocacy for Refugee Integration in Bulgaria”, funded by UNHCR and the project “NIEM – National Integration Evaluation Mechanism“, funded by the AMIF.

The first issue of the Academic Bulletin “Refugees: today and tomorrow” for 2022 brings together three major
and significant topics, both for Bulgaria and globally. On the one hand, it provides an overview of what
happened in Bulgaria in 2021 regarding the international protection procedures in the country and challenges
of integration of those granted refugee or humanitarian protection statuses, the article is based on the results
of the UNHCR AGD Survey conducted in 2021. On the other hand, the outbreak of war in Ukraine on 24
February 2022 and the millions of people who have already left for different European countries provoked us
to slow down the issue, but to collect several pieces, without pretending to be exhaustive, in which to present
the first solidarity initiatives, in general the reaction of the Bulgarian society, government and civic sector
supporting the Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria. The third major aspect is what is happening to refugees globally,
when at the beginning of the twenty-first century there are 23 active conflicts in the world, what is the role
of UNHCR in different places, what is the core philosophy of the Global Compact for Refugees. About all this
and other topics you could learn in the interview with Mr. Narasimha Rao Nilagiri Lakshmi, UNHCR
Representative in Bulgaria since 2020. We also turn our attention to the now forgotten crisis in Afghanistan
and its impact on refugee administrative and judicial practice in Bulgaria with the text of the lawyer Todor
Iliev in our Legal Consultant rubric. Last but not least, we would like to highlight the importance of the topic
of new technologies in the field of migration, which you will learn about from three studies of the Center for
the Study of Democracy. In the Academic Horizons section, we have also included information on several
summer schools in the field of migration and refugees forthcoming this summer.

Download in PDF  Summary in English  Feedback Other issues

On 26 and 27 May, the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants hosted an international partnership meeting on the Go4DiGreen project, aimed for economic integration and empowerment of refugees in the context of the development of the EU’s digital economy. During the meeting, the results of the project were planned, which include the development of an open online training platform and certification scheme, a refugee skills card for entrepreneurship, training materials and digital accessibility materials for refugees. The situation with the refugees from Ukraine and the prospects for their integration were also presented during the meeting. The meeting was attended by partner organizations Blickpunkt Identitaet (Austria), European Qualifications and Certification Association (Austria), Project Phoenix (Cyprus and Belgium), Syrian Youth Assembly (Germany) and technical partner of the project – MGL Video . The project is funded by the Erasmus + program in response to the effects of the СOVID-19 pandemic.

• Learn more about on the project official website: www.go4-green-business.eu

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bulgaria, in partnership and kindly hosted by the Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC), with the assistance of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), the Council of Refugee Women in Bulgaria (CRWB) and representatives of the refugee community, opened the Center for Refugee Support “Blue Dot” (Blue Dot). It is located at the BRC headquarters in Sofia and was opened in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Kalina Konstantinova.

Blue Dot centers are safe areas of protection and basic services that are being opened in countries hosting refugees from Ukraine, including Poland, Romania and Moldova. They provide information, legal advice, psychosocial support, identification and referral to services for children, women, families, and other groups at particular increased risk while fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Blue Dot Centers increase support from national governments and are organized in coordination with government authorities and other partners on key transit routes and destinations to help children and families in need.

Sofia, 28 April 2022 — While the welcoming response to Ukrainian refugees marks a turning point in many EU member states’ openness to displaced persons, in particular for those neighbouring Ukraine, a recent comparative report reveals that many countries are poorly prepared in terms of their long-term refugee integration policy frameworks.

The report, published by the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM)—which monitors and measures refugee integration policies in 14 EU Member States—highlights large gaps between countries and their policies in areas such as education, employment and housing (among others).

While some countries obtained high scores, such as Sweden (72.5 out of 100), others, including Hungary (32.8), Poland (36.9), Bulgaria (37.1) and Romania (38.5), find themselves at the other end of the spectrum.

Of course, the temporary protection regime in place for people fleeing Ukraine has its own set of legal conditions for integration, but many indicators included in the research refer to the wider integration infrastructure in place and on whether governments pursue a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of refugees.

“The report marks a stagnation—and in some cases even backsliding—of refugee integration policy frameworks in several EU member states over the past two years. Importantly, the report provides a roadmap to these countries, including those that are hosting large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, in terms of specific steps they can take to implement more inclusive policies that will better integrate new refugees into their societies.”—Alexander Wolffhardt, Deputy Director of the Migration Policy Group and co-author of the report.

The report also identifies a correlation between countries with more inclusive integration policies and the wellbeing of refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to several other findings.

Summary of key findings of the report:

• Since the last NIEM comparative evaluation report two years ago, there has been little to no progress by the 14 countries analysed.

• As a matter of fact, many countries have even seen some backsliding, specifically in the areas of residency, housing and social security, although there has been slight progress in the areas of citizenship, collaboration, family reunification and language learning and social orientation.

• Compared to the legal provisions in place on residence and equal access, all countries do worse when it comes to active policies supporting integration, cross-sectoral coordination and government support for civil society and local authorities.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries with more inclusive integration policy frameworks had more favourable outcomes in terms minimising the effects of COVID-19 upon refugees.

The full report can be accessed here.

Notes to the editors:

• The National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) is the biggest civil society-led project the European Commission has funded under AMIF and the only transnational AMIF project on integration.
• Co-authors of the report at Alexander Wolffhardt, Carmine Conte and Sinem Yilmaz from the Migration Policy Group.
• For further information about this latest NIEM report in general, please contact Richard Girling (comms@migpolgroup.com).

The Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Bulgaria is organizing a discussion on “The Road to Ukrainian Refugees in Europe and in Bulgaria”, which will be held on Friday, April 29, 2022, from 11.00 to 13.00.

The aim of the discussion “The Road to Ukrainian Refugees in Europe and in Bulgaria” is to discuss the main challenges posed by the huge wave of refugees from Ukraine across Europe, as well as short- and medium-term solutions. The event will take place in three parts. In the first part, we will discuss European policies and instruments in support of Ukrainian refugees, highlighting some of the good practices and outlining possible approaches to refugees in different scenarios for the development of the conflict. In the second part of the event, attention will be focused on the problems of Ukrainian refugees and the organizations that help them, at the national and local levels. In the third part, we will discuss what has been achieved so far in the regulatory framework in the service of refugees and the challenges facing institutions to meet the needs of refugees in access to social support, health care, work, shelter and education.

The discussion will be opened by Teodor Stoychev, Head of the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Bulgaria and Kalina Konstantinova, Deputy Prime Minister for Effective Governance. The first part of the event will include MEP Elena Yoncheva  and the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for Bulgaria Narasimha Rao.

The participants in the second panel are Olena Shopova, activist of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Bulgaria “Mother Ukraine”, Dr. Nadezhda Todorovska, Deputy Director General of the Bulgarian Red Cross and Kina Sabeva, Chairperson of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants (BSBM). . In the third panel we will discuss the challenges facing the institutions with Andrey Novakov, Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Valeri Rachev, Head of the National Crisis Staff, Stoyan Temelakiev, Deputy Minister of Interior and Mariana Tosheva, Chair of the State Refugee Agency. The moderator will be Nadezhda Tsekulova, Campaign and Communications Program Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

The event will be held in Bulgarian, with simultaneous translation from / into English and Ukrainian for those present in the hall and the audience in zoom. All other viewers will be able to follow the live broadcast on the page of the EP Bureau in Bulgaria on Facebook and on the YouTube channel, only in Bulgarian. Sign language interpretation will also be provided for the hearing impaired.

If you want to join the event in zoom, you can register until April 28, 2022 at the following link.

You can send your questions to the participants in advance in a slido with the hashtag #UKR. During the discussion, questions will be asked during the chat in zoom or through comments on the broadcast on Facebook and YouTube.

Programme of discussion “The Road Ahead for Ukrainian Refugees in Europe and Bulgaria” (pdf 254KB)

The micro website www.ukraine.refugee.bg provides information for refugees from Ukraine on the issues of temporary protection and integration in Bulgaria  in Ukrainian, Russian Bulgaria and English language.