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Description
Since August 26, 2020, AREM has provided information and advisory support to the citizens of Belarus persecuted for their civil and political position, forced to look for asylum in Latvia.
The situation continues to deteriorate, more and more Belarusian citizens want to emigrate, and this is straining Latvia''s state structures. Active and systematic informative work should be carried out among the population of Latvia and the citizens of Belarus. Citizens of Latvia should be informed about the situation of Belarusian citizens seeking asylum in Latvia, tolerance must be promoted in order to implement the principles of non-discrimination in Latvian society.
To make consultative work truly effective, it is necessary:
1) To create a website that would provide information to the Latvian society on the need to strengthen democracy, educate it and answer questions about asylum seekers and persons with refugee or alternative status. The information on the site will be updated regularly. The website must be integrated into the Belarusian civil society information space (referenced by the relevant portals, groups on social networks, etc.), it must provide sequential instructions to those interested in Belarusian citizens who are forced to seek asylum in Latvia due to the threat of repression.
2) Establish a hotline for telephone communications (using the messengers), active from 10.00 to 20.00, where the citizens of Belarus could receive individual consultations.
To perform these tasks, AREM intends to attract Belarusian refugees, whom the Association had previously provided with similar assistance.
The project involves people who know from their own experience the problems of forced migrants. This will make provided information accessible and understandable for Belarusian refugees and citizens of Latvia.
Summary of project results
1) To create a website that would provide information to the Latvian society on the need to strengthen democracy, educate it and answer questions about asylum seekers and persons with refugee or alternative status. The information on the site will be updated regularly. The website must be integrated into the Belarusian civil society information space (referenced by the relevant portals, groups on social networks, etc.), it must provide sequential instructions to those interested in Belarusian citizens who are forced to seek asylum in Latvia due to the threat of repression.
2) Establish a hotline for telephone communications (using the messengers), active from 10.00 to 20.00, where the citizens of Belarus could receive individual consultations.
To perform these tasks, AREM intends to attract Belarusian refugees, whom the Association had previously provided with similar assistance.
The project involves people who know from their own experience the problems of forced migrants. This will make provided information accessible and understandable for Belarusian refugees and citizens of Latvia.
1) Created a website that provides information to Latvian society about the need to strengthen democracy, educated it and answered questions about asylum seekers and persons with refugee or alternative status. Information on the website was regularly updated, the public was informed about planned events. The website was integrated into the information space of Belarusian civil society, it provides successive instructions to interested parties, citizens of Belarus who are forced to seek asylum in Latvia due to the threat of repression. 2) A "hotline" was established, i.e. for telephone communication of trust services (also using messaging programs WhatsUp, Telegram, Signal), which worked from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and where residents of Latvia and Belarus could receive individual consultations. To carry out this task, AREM attracted specialists, as well as those Belarusian refugees to whom the association had previously provided such support. Thanks to the fact that people who know from their own experience the problems and threats faced by forced emigrants participated in the project, the information provided was relevant.
Subsequently, the problems faced by refugees that were discovered during the project were submitted to the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia for consideration.