RIGHTS OF REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS

It is no coincidence that the Gorodyansky district became a place of public discussion, as it is located at the junction of the borders of three states – Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Therefore, illegal migrants often choose this area to penetrate Ukraine with the aim of further reaching European countries. It was on the features of the unique geographical location of the district that the head of the Gorodyansky District State Administration, Oleksiy Kryvets, focused, opening the public hearings.

As Andriy Ivansky, a senior officer of the Department for Work with Foreigners and Administrative Proceedings of the Chernihiv Border Guard Detachment, noted in his speech, the border of Ukraine on this section of the border is most often violated by citizens of India, Pakistan, Somalia and Egypt. The representative of the border guard service provided statistics on border violations, both by citizens of Ukraine and citizens of other states, and spoke about the peculiarities of working with temporarily detained persons.

The head of the Chernihiv sector of the migration service, Tiberiy Nilabovich, spoke about the activities and purpose of reforming the migration service, its composition in the Chernihiv region. Separately, information was provided on the procedure for obtaining refugee status in Ukraine.

Program Manager

of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Tukhan Ediev spoke about typical violations of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and about the assistance provided in this regard by public organizations.

The most important issues that were resolved during the public discussion were the problems of relations between border guards and residents of the border zone, where local residents often appear without identity documents. The procedure for foreigners staying in the region with temporary certificates was explained to the participants of the hearings.

The result of the public hearings was a decision on further cooperation and exchange of information between authorities and the public in order to combat illegal migration.