Loading ...The Regional Centre for Asylum Seekers based in Timisoara (western Romania) has officially become on Thursday the only Emergency Transit Centre in Europe meant for giving temporary shelter to the refugees from various conflict areas in the world.
Attending the event were representatives for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior and the International Migration Organization.
Attending the event were representatives for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior and the International Migration Organization.
'For centuries, the city on the Bega (Timisoara – editor's note) has been hosting minorities from the neighbouring countries, but also Arabs, Jews, Armenians and Roma, to cite but a few. Timisoara now is the first city in Europe in this new approach to the assistance of the persons in urgent need of re-location', said Erika Feller, assistant to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Chief police officer Toma Rus, who is deputy chief of the Department for Public Order and Safety of the Interior Ministry, stressed that the setting up of the centre enjoyed positive reactions both in Europe and across the world.
'It was praised both by the EU states and the United States and Canada, which are countries greatly involved in the humanitarian protection and in the creation of long-lasting solutions for the refugees', Rus said.
'It was praised both by the EU states and the United States and Canada, which are countries greatly involved in the humanitarian protection and in the creation of long-lasting solutions for the refugees', Rus said.
The centre is aimed at the people in need of international protection and assistance and it is to host such persons temporarily, for six months. The UNHCR representative in Romania Machiel Salomons, during a previous visit to inspect the conditions offered by the Timisoara-based centre, commended the Romanian authorities' full openness to get involved in this humanitarian action, as there are some 25 million refugees in the world, including elderly, women and children.
The refugees will stay in Romania for six months at the most, until a new location is found for them. The centre can host 200 persons, who will be accepted on a proposal of the UNHCR and after having been checked up by the Interior Ministry structures.
They should be persons whose fundamental rights are not respected in their own country and who need international support. The Asylum Centre in Timisoara was commissioned in 2004 and it can receive 250 persons, whom it offers medical care, legal and psychological consultancy.
The arrangement of the Centre cost 900,000 euros, of which 300,000 euros was contributed by the Romanian state and the remainder was European contribution. Romania has been accepting emigrants since 1991, after signing the Geneva Convention. The Timisoara Centre in 2005 hosted 456 Uzbek refugees and it sheltered 150 Serbs in last summer.
It currently hosts 157 refugees, with 138 of them being from Sudan and 19 from Eritrea.
It currently hosts 157 refugees, with 138 of them being from Sudan and 19 from Eritrea.
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