23 April, 2007 - On 20 April Brest hosted an official opening of a Migrant Accommodation Centre constructed and equipped under the EU/UNDP joint project “Enhancing Border Management in the Republic of Belarus” (BOMBEL-1).

The 12-bed center will host illicit migrants (refugees or persons applying for a refugee status). The center was designed and constructed in the second half of 2006 on the premises of military unit 21/87 of the Brest frontier post in line with the standards of the European Committee for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatment or Punishment.

“The center is a visible and concrete outcome of the joint work of the State Border Guard Committee, European Union and United Nations Development Programme”, noted Ian Boag, Ambassador, Head of the European Commission’s Delegation to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. “Migrants will live in decent conditions here until their status is decided upon.”

According to Cihan Sultanoglu, UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, the center creation was possible due to cooperation with other organizations of the UN system, in particular, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The construction and equipping of the center cost EURO 178,000 thousand. In 2006 an introductory visit by Belarusian experts to one of the similar temporary accommodation centers for migrants in Sweden, and a training on practical application of the EU standards in the activities of the Brest center personnel were carried out under BOMBEL-1 project.

Another Migrant Accommodation Centre is to be constructed in the town of Pinsk, Brest region, under BOMBEL-2 project “Enhancing the System of Immigration Control at the State Border of the Republic of Belarus” which is a follow-up to BOMBEL-1.

The progress and results of programmes BOMBEL-1 and BOMBEL-2 were discussed on 20 April at a joint sitting of the advisory boards of the two projects. Representatives of the European Commission, UNDP, UNHCR, IOM, Belarus’ State Border Guard Committee, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Customs Committee and others attended the sitting.

For more information, please contact the Project Manager, Sergei Prikhodko, at 216 24 93, or UNDP Communications Associate, Vladislav Khilkevich, at 227 38 17.

Print version