Recently the team of the R2P Project “Legal Assistance to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ukraine” joined the round table “Interaction of public authorities, legal aid centers and the CSO sector in the context of refugees and asylum seekers in Ukraine.”, which took place in Lutsk, Ukraine. We have continued the annual tradition of meeting with the government officials who work with the asylum seekers, who were detained at the border for illegal crossing and placed in temporary detention facilities in Ukraine.
The event was attended by the representatives of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the employees of the Temporary Accommodation Facility for Migrants, judges (Kivertsy District Court of Volyn Region), employees of the Kivertsy Legal Aid Bureau and Lutsk Local Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid. The round table discussion was organized with the assistance of the National School of Judges of Ukraine and lawyers of the free secondary legal aid system.
Such meetings have also been held during the strict quarantine restrictions, albeit in an online format. This year’s round table became a platform for topical discussion, exchange of ideas, experiences, and even for the search for cooperation opportunities.
For example, this year a representative of the Volyn Temporary Accommodation Facility told about how they managed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 and had no cases of the disease on their territory among the detainees. The lieutenant of the Lutsk border detachment shared the experience of our foreign neighbors from Poland and compared it with the Ukrainian realities. The judge of the Kivertsy District Court spoke about the peculiarities of consideration of cases of detention and extension of stay in the Facility for asylum seekers and shared his experience from his practice. The lawyers provided interesting information on the representation of the interests of the beneficiaries of the R2P in the courts in the cases of detention and expulsion.
The main purpose of such events is to create a space for communication and exchange of views to be able to address many relevant issues. That is why we are sincerely grateful to everyone who had the opportunity to join the dialogue!
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