Every year on 20 June 2010 we celebrate World Refugee Day. This tradition has been established as of 2000 in order to unify the commemoration of this event in all countries where the UN Agency for Refugees is present.
World refugee Day is the day when people remember and pay tribute to the more than 15 million refugees among the world’s estimated 43 million people uprooted by conflict and violence.
The UNHCR Representation in the Republic of Moldova, in cooperation with the Refugee Directorate under the Bureau for Migration and Asylum, is organising several events aimed to draw the public’s attention towards the plight of asylum seekers and refugees.
On 18 June 2010, at 11.00 hrs. at the Temporary Accommodation Centre (TAC) in the Airport zone (60/4, Dacia blvd.) there will be a cultural event organised by the Bureau for Migration and Asylum with the participation of government and international community officials and asylum seekers and refugees themselves. The event at TAC also includes the official opening of a dedicated facility for 40 single women and unaccompanied minors which was realized with financial support from the European Union and UNHCR in the context of a regional local integration programme as implemented in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine during 2009 – 2011.
On 18 June 2010, at 16.00 hrs. UNHCR and the Refugee Directorate will unveil a photo exhibition in the Central Square of the Stefan cel Mare Monument. The photo exhibition includes portraits of refugees living in the Republic of Moldova. The theme of the exhibition is “I wish…”. Each photo carries a message expressed by the refugees themselves, “… I wish I could live in peace”, “I wish I could make many friends”, etc.
On 19, 20 and 21 June 2010, at 18.00 hrs. the play “Before and After the Flight” will be performed by actors from Satiricus Ion Luca Caragiale theatre on Eminescu St.
The UN Refugee Agency, which has been present in the country since 1997 and the Republic of Moldova have a long-standing history of cooperation. Moldova acceded to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 2001, thus undertook to protect refugees. In 2008 Moldova adopted the new Law on Asylum, which is considered by UNHCR as a very progressive step in the development of the national asylum system. In 2009 Moldova became a member the Executive Committee of UNHCR.
Asylum seekers and refugees in Moldova come from about 30 countries, and on 1 June 2010, 144 recognised refugees and beneficiaries of humanitarian protection were living on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, while cases of 64 persons are pending a decision in first or in appeal instances.
