Border Management | Access and information

To ensure all asylum-seekers have access to safe territory and fair and efficient asylum procedures, UNHCR Central Europe has established border management projects in six countries in the region: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The projects are based on tripartite agreements between state authorities, NGOs, and UNHCR. Learn more about the agreements by visiting the link below.

The framework of the project is as follows: participating NGOs regularly visit border crossings and detention centres to determine if asylum-seekers have access territory and asylum procedures. Our NGO partners talk to new arrivals, look into their files, and provide information and legal counselling. Then they report their findings to UNHCR and the Border Police authority.

Border management projects also involve the training of border police, detention and reception facility staff members, and NGOs. The aim is to provide UNHCR’s partners with a better understanding of the issues and people involved, particularly when those people are vulnerable and have special needs. In addition, hundreds of information leaflets, written in multiple languages, are placed at key locations along borders to inform new arrivals of their right to seek asylum, and provide them with local contacts for legal advice.

Over the years, the Border Management and Protection of Refugees projects have been a success. They have greatly enhanced access to territory and asylum procedures in the six countries they have been operating. They have strengthened the cooperation between all the partners involved, including border police, immigration and asylum authorities, government, NGOs, and UNHCR.

The projects have also led to changes in existing legislation, so that they include the principle of non-refoulement, which forbids countries from sending asylum-seekers back to places where they are under threat. , and ensure that asylum-seekers are not penalized for entering a territory.