Living Water, UNHCR hold seminar on law on refugees

The Living Water Community (LWC) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) held a seminar on working with refugees in the absence of TT legislation on Saturday.

The workshop, at the Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine, was aimed at law students, representatives of NGOs and civil society.

A panel of experts from the LWC, UNHCR and other NGOs on legislation presented their mandate for carrying out refugee protection in TT.

Rochelle Nakhid, co-ordinator of LWC's Ministry for Migrants and Refugees, highlighted the importance of working in the humanitarian sector responding to the international refugee crisis.

“It is hard work for all organisations supporting asylum seekers, refugees and migrants adapting to local laws,” she said.

During the workshop participants discussed three topics: Relevant definitions of Asylum-Seekers, Refugees and Migrants; Principles of International Refugee Protection; UNHCR's work in TT.

Amanda Solano, UNHCR representative, said the registration process for all asylum seekers is the same in all countries, but each country has its own laws and processes – hence the importance of knowing how to help refugees according to the local legal system.

Asylum-seekers attend several interviews in which they provide the LWC and UNHCR with their personal information and the reasons why they left their countries of origin and request protection.

With this information, the UNHCR teams begin the process of approving or refusing asylum. These refugee rights are framed in international conventions signed in 1951 and expanded in 1984.

Some participants agreed it was necessary to incorporate international mechanisms into the local legal system to modernise and bring TT to the same level as international laws, especially on the issue of refugees and asylum-seekers, to achieve mutual protection.

They considered this legal process a challenge, but at the same time an opportunity for TT to adapt to different global situations such as persecution, prostitution and other immigration problems.

For the legal challenge regarding migration in TT, UNHCR promotes three solutions: local integration, resettlement and voluntary repatriation.

At the end of the workshop, the participants took a quiz with the knowledge acquired and shared Venezuelan food and drinks as a sign of understanding between the local community and the migrants.