Employees of the BPD system and lawyers of the Chernihiv region were trained in effective ways to protect the rights of refugees

On November 24, 2021, a training session “International and National Standards for the Protection of the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Ukraine” was held in Chernihiv for employees of free legal aid centers and lawyers of the Chernihiv region.

Addressing the participants of the training, the director of the Chernihiv Local Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid, Volodymyr Bobruyko, emphasized the importance of holding such events and raising the level of awareness of lawyers and employees of BPD centers in migration legislation in the current conditions of migration challenges at the borders of Ukraine.

“Such an event is very important for our region because there are only 3 temporary residence points for foreigners and stateless persons (PTPI) in Ukraine, and one of them is located in Chernihiv region,” said the head of the local BPD center.

Volodymyr Bobruyko also spoke about his work experience in the field of migration law. He shared current processes, statistics, and practical aspects of work at the Chernihiv temporary residence point for foreigners and stateless persons.

Nadiya Ediyeva, head of programs at the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, noted that changes in the legislation require representatives of the legal and human rights community to pay special attention to supporting cases of extradition of individuals and preventing the deportation of foreigners to countries where they may be subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including in the context of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

During the training, the participants were able to familiarize themselves with international and national legal mechanisms in the field of protection of the right to asylum, procedures for determining refugee status under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Law of Ukraine “On Refugees and Persons in Need of Supplementary or Temporary Protection”, the features of appealing decisions of the migration service to refuse to accept an asylum seeker’s application for recognition as a refugee or a person in need of supplementary protection, and the preparation of documents for consideration of such applications, examined the main aspects of the problem of statelessness and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in the context of considering asylum seeker cases.

In a separate block of the training, the participants considered the issue of stateless persons in the context of the new Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Recognition as a Stateless Person” dated 06/16/2020.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the support of the Human Rights Houses Foundation.