24.06.2018
Thanks to our great volunteer Paola, here is a shortened summary of our activities in English for the last week: 1. On World Refugee Day Festival: On Sunday, June 17th, HRL participated in the World Refugee Day Celebration in Bratislava at the Old Market (Stará Trznica). Several organizations and the refugee community gathered to commemorate the millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution. The Festival was followed by a umbrella parade around the Old Town. Here are some pictures of different activities conducted by HRL and the other participants at the event. 2. Downtown flyer distribution: Our Bratislava team visited and dropped a flyer across Old Town to promote the crowdfunding campaign for the Uletenci comics. Don't forget to visit the following cafes or shops to enjoy a refreshing glass of iced coffee! - Lab Coffee - Art Books Coffee - Eleven Books & Coffee - Goethe Institut (Kaffeehaus Goriffee) - Artforum - U Gulky - Made with Laf - Dot. Espresso Bar & Coffee - U Kubistu - Matsu Premium Tea and Coffee - Coffeebreak - Papierovy Mesiac - Sweet Beans Coffee Roastery - Kafičko 3. #WelcomingEurope signature collection campaign. On June 20th, World Refugee Day, the HRL and its partners have joined the first European Citizens’ Initiative to empower a #WelcomingEurope and reclaim our right to help as citizens. Don't forget to sign the petition here: https://www.weareawelcomingeurope.eu/
15.06.2018
The Uletenci campaign The crowdfunding campaign for the Uletenci comics has started in the previous week and will run for 40 days until mid-July. If you wish to support the efforts of HRL, Daniela Krajcova and others in educating children about the real life of refugees, you can support us at https://www.startlab.sk/projekty/455-komiksova-knizka-o-utecencoch/. We would love for you to join in the effort! Legal assistance Our colleague Viktoria visited the facility for asylum seekers in Rohovce for the first time, providing legal advice to our clients and meeting with the facility manager. She also managed files from the Immigration office with our client from Turkey, who will be starting an intensive English course in July with a 10% discount on the tuition fee provided by the UK Centre for Continuing Education - thank you very much! Miška from the Košice office visited Humenné, where she talked with several clients. In many of the cases, Miška and Viktoria worked together, and Miška handed over Viktoria her first case. Viktoria also handled her first appeal case very well. On Friday, we were happy to be informed that a minor who had been erroneously recorded as an adult will be sent from ÚPZC Medveďov to a children's home, where he belongs. We are looking forward to the prompt response of the LCP. We were less happy with the news that a client whom we were advising on Thursday in the Bratislava office had not been able to secure any visa for her husband. We are not impressed with such insidious approach of the foreigner police to spouses that had been living together for eight years. There must be a more dignified approach to minimise the shock and psychological disruption that the husband may experience. The current approach would definitely make the relationship sensitive and experience changes. New (and old) interns! This is our second week with our interns, Irene and Deborah, who came from the University of Hong Kong. Their efforts have been shown on our now-lively social media as well as preparation for the Sunday Parade & World Refugee Day Festival coming up this Sunday. We are looking forward to Sunday to play the fun games they prepared! Right now, they are tasting Slovak's childhood favorite "burnt milk" pudding! Basha met with our "old" intern Timea this week, who will again be working at the Kosice office. Welcome back, Timea! Please check out the following: Our colleague Peter Ivanič prepared an article on the Index of Endangered People for the economics newspaper, which was published this week by the Minority Rights Group International. Read it here. The article by Mirek Tóda about the Aquarious, who was granted asylum in Spain, can be found in the Journal. You can also watch the boat trip from Italy to Spain on Twitter @SOSMedGermany Did you know that only a very few of the nearly 16,000 people who went missing or dead during the voyage across the Mediterranean Sea have been found? The IOM Missing Migrants project, which publishes data on migrants who are missing or dead, has published 5 recommendations on their current blog on how to improve data collection for missing persons.
05.06.2018
Help us to raise funds for a comic book produced by our talented artists around Slovakia. The comics record real stories of our clients back in their hometown, their journey across different countries, and daily life in Slovakia. Click the link here to see how YOU can contribute and collect some exciting gifts along the way!