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Kyrgyzstan|life|June 22, 2016 / 09:25 AM
Kyrgyzstan marks World Refugee Day

AKIPRESS.COM - Refugees, representatives of the government, civil society, diplomatic corps, the media and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees gathered in Bishkek on Monday to commemorate the World Refugee Day, recognizing the strength and resilience of more than 60 million people around the world forced to flee their homes due to war or human rights abuses.

Former President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva offered her solidarity by having published in the local media an article on Kyrgyzstan’s experience in hosting refugees to mark the occasion.

"On the World Refugee Day, I would like to send this special message of thank you, to the people and the government of Kyrgyzstan for taking good care of refugees, and call on the Kyrgyz people to reach out to those remarkable refugee individuals and help them become part of your community," UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a video message sent from Geneva.

Chingiz Sarybayev of the Kyrgyzstan’s State Migration Service in charge of refugees noted that Kyrgyzstan has been fulfilling its obligations since the 1990s, initially by receiving over 20,000 refugees from Tajikistan and integrating half of them. “Every day is a Refugee Day for us,” he said.

The highlight of the Bishkek event was young refugees, together with Kyrgyz and other volunteer students, performing a dance play about a young Afghan girl who recounted her own country before and during the war, and how she transitioned into the unknown in Kyrgyzstan.

On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, a group of Afghan refugee girls who aspire to open a beauty parlor offered henna, temporary tattoo. In addition to flowers and tree motifs, some Ambassadors were tattooed with UNHCR logo.

There are about 100 refugee families residing in Kyrgyzstan, the majority of whom have been staying for more than 10 years and the children have grown, fluent in local languages. UNHCR, together with the Kyrgyz government and development partners, is working to support their dreams becoming a productive member of the Kyrgyz society.

“We appreciate the recent support by UNHCR and specialists to help us start up small businesses,” said Chaman Shah, leader of the refugee community, at the start of the event. “We request the authorities to provide us with work permits so that we can take care of our future ourselves.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Kyrgyzstan's accession to the 1951 International Convention on Refugees and its Protocol. Since the 1990s, Kyrgyzstan has received waves of refugees from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. With UNHCR support, the government has developed refugee protection institutions, including establishing a national refugee law and implementing refugee reception and status determination procedures.

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