Webinar of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants with students of the Faculty of History of Sofia University

On 16 April 2021, a webinar The Role of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants (BCRM) for the Protection and Integration of Refugees was held. The meeting was opened by Asst. Dr. Kremena Yordanova, lecturer, Department of Ethnology, Sofia University. Mr. Narasimha Rao, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bulgaria, professor Irina Koleva, Lecturer, Department of Ethnology, Sofia University, as well as dr. Kina Sabeva, Chair of the BCRM, participated on the event. Dr. Sabeva was the key note speaker on the topic and she developed and raised for discussion issues concerning the protection and integration of beneficiaries of international protection in Bulgaria. Dr. Sabeva presented the role of the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, the Bulgarian Red Cross, Caritas Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, organizations with long experience and professional competence. The focus was on the advocacy, capacity development, coalition and partnership building, awareness raising and creating a tolerant public environment for refugee protection and integration. The BCRM's information infrastructure for refugee integration in Bulgaria was presented as an element of advocacy and stakeholders assistance in making informed decisions for the development of a fair and effective system for the integration of persons granted protection. The topics presented sparked a lively discussion. Future cooperation and possible signing of a memorandum of partnership and joint activities were discussed. 

The event was organized in the framework of the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) project, co-financed through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.