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Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees ready to carry out projects in Belarus

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to carry out a number of projects in Belarus, Commissioner Antonio Guterres told reporters in Minsk on July 29, as quoted by BelaPAN.

He said that he had met with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the foreign and interior ministers and the chairman of the State Border Committee to discuss the projects, which he said focus on the status of refugees and their integration in Belarusian society.

Mr. Guterres said that the Office would pursue the projects in cooperation with the Belarusian government and civil society. The United Nations is interested in studying the performance of Belarusian-based training centers for refugees, according to the commissioner. The Office could also be involved in projects that Belarus is implementing with other international organizations, he said. 

Belarus will always be among the countries that do the most to help refugees, Mr. Lukashenka said during the meeting with Antonio Guterres, according to the government's news agency BelTA.

"You have a highly honorable mission," the Belarusian leader said to Mr. Guterres. "You probably help people in distress more than anyone else. I'm very glad that you have an opportunity to look at our country, learn about the real state of affairs here and about the situation of the most problematic category of people in our world. Unfortunately, such problem people, who are this way because the situation in their home countries is unfavorable, are not getting fewer. We can feel this in our country. There're thousands and thousands of refugees and stateless persons constantly asking our country for help. And we do what we can and even more to help them."