ZAGREB, June 7, 2019 – The local community has a key role in integrating refugees, according to an international conference organised on Friday by civil society organisations on the occasion of the start of REFUGEE weeks which will see several events during June to inform citizens about the new members in their society.
Croatia is included in the relocation and resettlement programme for refugees from Turkey and Greece and, in addition to providing accommodation, it is necessary to actively include them in society, heard the conference organised by the Coordination for Integration.
Dragana Knezić of the Stress and Trauma Rehabilitation Centre said that citizens and the community show empathy and solidarity with refugees if they are informed on time and are included in decision-making.
So far 793 aliens have been approved international protection in Croatia and another 500 have applied for asylum.
Mirna Varga of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) noted that at the end of May, 50 Syrian citizens arrived in Croatia from Turkey as part of the resettlement programme and they are currently accommodated in the Kutina migrant centre and will be housed in apartments in Sisak and Karlovac.
The government is expected to adopt a plan to relocate those people who have been granted international protection in an effort to decentralise their accommodation. Most of them are now located in Zagreb.
“There are refugees also in Rijeka and Zadar. Our objective is that they are not all in Zagreb but for all of Croatia to profit from their knowledge and skills. By the end of the year, another 50 people will certainly arrive, which will meet our quota for 2018 of 100 Syrian refugees from Turkey. A new quota of 150 people has been approved for 2019 but no one knows when these people might arrive in Croatia,” Varga said.
More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.
