More information
Description
In recent years, there has been a large increase in the number of people coming to Poland from the former Soviet Union countries. Our Foundation has 10 years of experience in working with foreigners, but since autumn 2020 we have been operating in a completely new reality. The work we do consists primarily of providing support to political refugees. The urgent needs of such people are to find accommodation and employment and to obtain international protection. People in a migrant situation are most often not familiar with the Polish language or procedures, and do not know their rights, which makes them particularly vulnerable to abuse, discrimination and human rights violations. In addition, there is no organisation in the Podlaskie Province dealing with advocacy or mediation activities with authorities, offices, employers and service providers for people in a migration situation. Such persons do not know where they can ask for help in case their rights are violated. The aim of the project is to counteract human rights violations, discrimination and unequal treatment of people in a migrant situation in the relationship: immigrant – the state (authority, education, health, welfare etc.), immigrant – employer, and immigrant – service provider. We will conduct advocacy and mediation activities (minimum 60 cases). We will provide legal support to migrant persons (170 hours of support). We will run an information hotline (17 months). Thanks to the NGO agreement on protection of human rights of people in migration situation in the Podlaskie Province, we will establish or strengthen cooperation with NGOs in the field of protection of human rights and prevention of discrimination. The main beneficiaries of the project are Russian-speaking people in a migration situation in Poland (no less than 300 persons) and NGOs in the Podlaskie Province.
Summary of project results
The support provided was needed by foreigners trying to legalize in Poland. On the one hand, the project was needed by foreigners (we helped in translating documents, legalizing stay, providing consultations, educating and solving problems of violating the rights of people in a migration situation). On the other hand, we cooperated with employers, offices, other institutions and social organizations who had direct contact with foreigners and could influence the quality of their life in the new country.
Our goal was to raise the awareness of foreigners in the field of human rights and to minimize the number of violations, and at the same time to counteract human rights violations, discrimination and unequal treatment of people in a migration situation in the immigrant/office/institution relationship, etc. We managed to achieve this goal not only in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, but also in other voivodeships in Poland.
Foreigners were aware that they could contact the foreigners'' rights ombudsman and that someone would help them in their discriminatory situation. Thanks to our support and the creation of a "cooperation network", we filled the gap which was the lack of an organization working to protect the rights of foreigners in the province. Podlasie.
The following activities were carried out as part of the project:
- Hotline for Russian-speaking people in a migration situation (572 UP)
- Advocacy/mediation (75 UP)
- Legal advice (13 UP, total 106 hours)
- Sworn translations (29 UP, total 181.6 pages)
- Creation of a cooperation network of NGOs and public institutions working for people in a migration situation (11 public institutions, 18 non-governmental organizations and 1 Belarusian diaspora)
- Production of 5 educational films in the area of protection of foreigners'' rights.
As part of institutional development, the Foundation''s potential, both infrastructural and human, was strengthened.
Thanks to the project, the Foundation strengthened and expanded its support for people in a migration situation, established cooperation with all entities working with or for migrants, started work on creating a migration policy in Białystok, as well as strengthened, integrated and equipped the Foundation''s team with the skills necessary to further development and improved the quality of office infrastructure.
Results:
- period of operation of the hotline point: 18 months
- number of consultations provided: 572
- period of advocacy/mediation activities: 18 months
- number of cases handled: 75
- number of hours of legal advice: 106 hours
- number of pages of sworn translations: 181.6 pages.
- number of trained NGO representatives: 12 people (7 plus 2 from the OKNO NA WSCHOD Foundation + 3 Russian-speaking people from informal groups) + 5 from public institutions
- number of NGO cooperation networks: 1.
The results will continue to be disseminated, mainly through educational films distributed on social networking groups of Russian-speaking foreigners.
As for the cooperation network of NGOs and institutions working with and for foreigners - preparations are underway to focus on the preparation of equality policy (including migration) in Białystok. If we obtain funds, we plan to carry out a study visit to cities that have already adopted such a policy.
Our goal was to raise the awareness of foreigners in the field of human rights and to minimize the number of violations, and at the same time to counteract human rights violations, discrimination and unequal treatment of people in a migration situation in the immigrant/office/institution relationship, etc. We managed to achieve this goal not only in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, but also in other voivodeships in Poland. Foreigners are aware that they can contact the foreigners'' rights ombudsman and that someone will help them in their discriminatory situation. Thanks to our support and the creation of a "cooperation network", we filled the gap which was the lack of an organization working to protect the rights of foreigners in the province. Podlasie.