UNHCR ready to expand cooperation with Belarus

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi expressed his readiness to expand cooperation with Belarus at a meeting with permanent representative of Belarus to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva Larisa Belskaya.

The participants of the meeting noted the long-standing constructive and fruitful nature of cooperation between Belarus and UNHCR. In addition, they discussed possible areas of its development in conditions of the largest refugee crisis in Europe and a significant increase in the number of requests for refugee status or temporary protection in our country.

In his turn, Filippo Grandi confirmed the UNHCR's readiness to broaden cooperation with Belarus on a wide range of topical issues and to support the Belarusian authorities' efforts to provide proper reception and integration of refugees. He also expressed his gratitude for the support received by the Ukrainian refugees in the country.

During the conversation, special attention was paid to the priority areas of cooperation for our country: strengthening the capacity of Belarusian specialized services in the field of migration and refugees, improving the current system of control over access to the state procedure for obtaining refugee status. Improvement of the automated system of registration of asylum seekers in Belarus as well as adaptation of the database of their countries of origin was highlighted as another important area for cooperation.

Larisa Belskaya and Filippo Grandi expressed mutual interest in the resumption of the UNHCR educational project for representatives of the law enforcement bodies on the basis of the International Training Center on Migration and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in Minsk and noted the similar approaches to protection of rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, including the situation at the border of Belarus with the European Union countries. They emphasized the unproductive and discriminatory nature of the construction of walls, the denial of access to the territory for refugees and asylum seekers, and the unacceptability of ill-treatment and forced expulsion of such people.

The participants of the meeting named the importance of resuming civilized cross-border cooperation and coordinated efforts to find effective solutions to the problem of refugees and save their lives as a paramount task for both sides.