The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly presented Bulgaria's upcoming participation in the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, 13—15 December 2023.
06 December 2023 News
On 5 December 2023. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Embassy of Switzerland organised a joint event entitled ‘Bulgaria at the Global Refugee Forum’. The voluntary commitments that the Republic of Bulgaria plans to declare at the upcoming second Global Refugee Forum on 13—15 December 2023 in Geneva were presented publicly at the event.
The Forum will bring together representatives of over 180 countries that adopted the Global Compact on Refugees at the UN General Assembly on 17 December 2018. This international document aims to alleviate the situation of refugees around the world and to distribute equally the responsibility for their economic, social and cultural integration in host countries. The document foresees a Global Forum to be organised every four years, at which the States Parties will report on the implementation of commitments to improve the situation of refugees and identify new measures in the same direction.
The event was opened by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Irena Dimitrova, who highlighted the 30 years of joint work of the Bulgarian state institutions and the UNHCR. She reported on the full implementation of the six commitments made by the Republic of Bulgaria at the first Global Refugee Forum in 2019 and presented the voluntary commitments of the competent Bulgarian institutions that Bulgaria plans to announce at the second Global Refugee Forum. The new nine voluntary commitments concern the socio-economic integration of asylum seekers in Bulgaria, the protection of refugee children, with particular attention to unaccompanied children, and ensuring access to humanitarian care on a non-discriminatory basis.
Speeches were also delivered by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova, the Chairperson of the State Agency for Refugees Mariana Tosheva and representatives of other institutions that will implement the commitments over the next four years. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to the Republic of Bulgaria H. E. Raymund Furrer presented Switzerland as the host country of the upcoming Global Refugee Forum. The discussion was attended by representatives of the Bulgarian Red Cross, academia, business, NGOs, refugee organizations in Bulgaria, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps in Bulgaria.
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