,

The project presented draft report “Right of returnees to right”

The EU project “Legal aid and information dissemination necessary for protection and exercising rights of internally displaced people, refugees and returnees” organized on Thursday, 5 March 2020 a presentation of a thematic report “Right of returnees to right” and a panel discussion on issues returnees upon readmission agreements face when returned to the Republic of Serbia.

The Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija dr Zoran Bojovic opened the event welcoming guests and presenting up to date results the free legal aid project had achieved emphasizing successfulness in providing legal assistance to internally displaced persons, refugees and returnees upon readmission agreements.

Expert for social matters and author of the report Stevan Nikolic presented a structure and perception of problems that are obstacles in the process of re-integration for returnees in environments they are returned to for the EU countries, with accent on ones returned without documents and/or do not possess certificate of birth and citizenship.

Dejan Milisavljevic, Advisor in the Commissariat for refugees and migrations, presented to the attendees the mechanisms this institution had established to support this category of citizens, after which the legal advisers on the projected Vladimir Mojsilovic and Dragan Gavrilovic and readmission officer Ivana Andrejevic presented legal issues of returnees and assistance the project is providing to them to help them resolve their status. The experts explained obstacles returnees face while trying to obtain documents upon return.

Besides representatives of the beneficiary institutions, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and Commiserate for Refugees and Migrations, and the project team, the event was attended by representatives of GIZ, Ministry of Interior, social centers and other organizations and institutes relevant to the problems of returnees. The event was closed with conclusion that it is important to strengthen the collaboration between government institutions and civil associations working with returnees in order to provide the most efficient support in the process of re-integration.

Publishing thematic reports is one of the Free legal aid project’s activities which purpose is to shed the light on legal issues of the project’s targeted groups and propose actions in resolving those issues.