The Thematic Workshop on “Regional Meeting of Managers of Reception Facilities for Asylum Seekers” of the Söderköping Process will take place in Minsk, Belarus on 7-8 September, 2006. The workshop will gather experts dealing with reception centre management from Belarus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine as well as representatives of the European Commission (EC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Swedish Migration Board (SMB), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The main objectives of the workshop are to:
· look into practical aspects of the reception: experience with access to the country of origin information and dealing with undocumented migrants; needs and remaining gaps; cooperation among the authorities involved in the process of the RSD procedure; cooperation among reception centres and NGOs delivering assistance to asylum seekers;
· share the experience of the newly acceded EU Member States and the candidate country Romania with Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine in more detail and discuss the possibilities of sub-regional cooperation on reception issues.
The Söderköping process was launched in 2001 with the objective to facilitate cross-border co-operation and dialogue between the then new EU candidate countries and three beneficiary countries of the Söderköping process - Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine on asylum, migration and border management issues. It includes ten countries situated along the enlarged EU border: Belarus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The process is supported by the EC, IOM, SMB and UNHCR.
All media are invited to the opening session of the Meeting on 7 September from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Minsk International Education Centre (IBB), 11, Gasety Prawda prospect, Minsk 220116 Belarus; tel. ++375 17- 270 39 94; fax +375 17- 270 39 95; www.ibb.by
For further information please contact Ms. Anna Yefimenko tel. +380 44 254-5346/47, fax +380 44 288-9850, e-mail:efimenko@unhcr.org, address: CBCP Secretariat, 32-A Sichnevogo Povstannya St., Kyiv 01015, Ukraine (www.soderkoping.org.ua)
