Eastern Europe

Response in 2017

With the unresolved conflicts in the region, security considerations continue to permeate all dimensions of foreign and local policy-making, including migration and asylum policies. UNHCR advocated for access to territory and to asylum procedures across the sub region. UNHCR continued to support the eradication of statelessness and advocated for accession to relevant international instruments, particularly in Belarus as the government is planning to make this step in the near future.
 
Daily ceasefire violations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region continued to be reported by both parties to the conflict throughout the year and resulted in casualties. Nevertheless, the status-quo was maintained and no new displacement occurred. Despite political initiatives under the leadership of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, no breakthrough was achieved as to the resolution of the conflict, thus contingency planning and emergency preparedness remained high on the agenda.
 
Through the Asylum Systems Quality Initiative in Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus (QIEE), UNHCR continued to support governments in enhancing the quality of their asylum systems. The target groups of the initiative were expanded to include the first instance decision makers, the judiciary, border guards and legal practitioners.
 
The total number of people of concern in the sub region reached nearly 3 million by the end of the year. This comprises 152,636 refugees (including 123,600 Ukrainians refugees in Russia); around 10,000 asylum-seekers; close to 2.7 million IDPs (600,000 in Azerbaijan,  278,000 in Georgia, and some 1.8 million in Ukraine); more than 128,000 stateless persons (82,000 in Russia, 35,300 in Ukraine, 6,000 in Belarus, and 3,600 in Azerbaijan). In addition, there are some 136,400 Ukrainian refugees and close to 17,800 Ukrainians with their asylum claims pending by the end of 2017 in neighbouring countries and the European Union.

Operations

Operations in the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine are presented in separate country chapters. Other UNHCR operations in the subregion are presented below.

Armenia continued to host some 14,000 Syrian refugees. The Government adopted the ‘National Action Plan on the Effective Implementation of the Strategy for the Migration Policy of the Republic of Armenia for 2017-2021’, to which UNHCR contributed. Significant progress was made towards self-reliance and integration of Syrian refugees in Armenia due to a combination of macro-economic measures (tax reduction and small and medium-sized enterprises promotion), migration policy adjustments enhancing tourism (e.g. visa liberalization) and economic integration projects offered by development and diaspora organizations and UNHCR. UNHCR also provided technical assistance to the reception facilities that have been established at three border-crossing checkpoints and supported in referring cases to authorities. Moreover, several trainings on statelessness were organized for State authorities and partners.
 
In Azerbaijan, through government capacity-building, UNHCR continued its efforts to improve quality of the refugee status determination process. Furthermore, the efforts focused on reforming legislation to expand the protection space, including ensuring refugees’ access to rights and services while continuing to ensure basic needs of refugees are met and exploring all opportunities for their integration. UNHCR conducted a workshop on integration and jointly developed a roadmap on integration in support of the Government decision to establish an inter-ministerial working group aimed at introducing amendments to the legislation for access of refugees to labour and social rights. In 2017, the primary health care of refugees and asylum-seekers was handed over to the Government, while UNHCR focused on the referral of a number of cases. Under the project with the Japanese Fuji Optical Co, around 2,300 IDPs received eyesight check-up.
 
In Belarus, UNHCR worked to identify and provide targeted assistance to the most vulnerable among new arrivals from Ukraine. The office also strengthened border and detention monitoring. UNHCR strengthened its local integration activities, including facilitating access to the labour market and reinforced partnerships with the private sector. A series of thematic round-tables targeting employers gathered and connected some 100 representatives of unions of employers, business communities, enterprises and people of concern. With the new version of the law on asylum and statelessness entered into force in 2017, almost all rejection grounds not in line with the 1951 Convention were eliminated, and refugees were granted access to both emergency and regular medical care.
 
In Georgia, the new asylum law and the subsequent by-laws entered into force in February 2017, bringing the national system in line with the international standards. Despite the recognition rate remaining low, the overall quality of the administrative decisions was maintained, and the number of positive decisions taken by the courts increased. As of April 2017, a governmental integration centre started functioning; aiming at further strengthening access to socio-economic rights, the government ensured inclusion of refugees and humanitarian status holders into the existing national social assistance scheme as of December 2017. UNHCR continued to advocate for shifting the Government assistance to IDPs from status to needs-based, and mainstreaming IDPs into the national social welfare system and socio-economic development strategies. A National Action Plan on Ending Statelessness was finalized in 2017 with action points being included in the 2018 Migration Action Plan adopted by the State Commission on Migration Issues.
 
In all UNHCR operations in the sub region, funding shortfall led to inadequate subsistence allowances and very strict targeting of cash and non-cash assistance. It also limited the implementation of livelihoods and basic-needs, including health care and education interventions for the most vulnerable.