Russian Federation

Year-end Overview

Plan Overview

Working environment

 
Since the outbreak of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine in April 2014, over 1 million Ukrainians had sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in the Russian Federation by mid-2017. The Government continues to lead the operational response to the needs of arrivals from Ukraine.
 
Newly-arrived asylum-seekers from countries other than Ukraine sometimes face difficulties with access to territory and to asylum procedures. They also experience longer waiting periods and are exposed to risks associated with the absence of documentation, including deportation and detention.
 
While local integration is generally an option available to Ukrainian refugees, it remains problematic for other population groups due to absence of governmental programmes to assist refugees with accommodation, employment, language, and overcoming legal/bureaucratic obstacles and incidents of xenophobia.

Access to education remains challenging for refugees and asylum-seekers due to lack of proper documentation for admission to public schools.
 
UNHCR will continue working with the authorities to improve access to and quality of the national status determination procedure and promote integration opportunities for recognized refugees and temporary asylum holders. UNHCR ensures individual legal assistance and counselling through partner organizations and lobbies for individual cases before national courts and, in selected cases, with the European Court for Human Rights. In addition, the Office pursues resettlement of refugees who, for various reasons, cannot find protection and achieve integration in the Russian Federation.
 
By law, applicants for refugee status, holders of temporary asylum and refugees in the Russian Federation are entitled to free medical care. However, UNHCR also provides assistance through its partners to applicants who face difficulties accessing this entitlement or who have serious health problems that are not covered by the obligatory insurance.
 
The number of stateless persons in the country is progressively reducing due to a number of legislative changes. However the problem has not yet been fully resolved and the estimated stateless population stands at just over 70,000. UNHCR continues to implement awareness-raising activities and to provide legal assistance through partner organizations for people seeking to regularize their status, and stands ready to provide relevant support to the Government.
 

Key priorities

 
In 2018, UNHCR will focus on:

• Promoting unhindered access to the territory for asylum-seekers,  including through the establishment of cooperation with the Border Guards Service;
• Working with migration service staff to improve reception conditions and temporary accommodation centres;
• Providing capacity building for government officials to ensure access to quality refugee status determination procedures and individual documentation;
• Building partners’ capacity to provide quality legal services to asylum-seekers, refugees and stateless persons;
• Supporting the Government in developing integration programmes for recognized refugees and temporary asylum status holders, while promoting the removal of legal and practical barriers to integration;
• Promoting  accession to international instruments, as well as legislative developments to further reduce and prevent statelessness;
• Working with the authorities to facilitate naturalization procedures for refugees and stateless people and advocate for their access to social services.