Czech Republic Launches New Project for Recognised Refugees

Slovo 21 has issued a publication Czech Republic: Your New Home for international protection holders. The organization will also offer them integration seminars in eight languages all around the country.

People who are forced to leave their home country and seek protection in another country need to prove great determination. They also face a lot of fear as they need to rebuild their whole life from scratch.  They have to leave behind their families, houses, works, and all social contacts.

Once they arrive in the Czech Republic, they start a new life journey. They need to arrange housing, start working to provide for basic livelihood, find a school for their children, learn Czech, and try to understand how things work in a new unknown environment. They establish completely new social ties with local people. This will allow them to gradually integrate and find a new home in the new country.

At first, dealing with everyday situations may be very difficult and confusing for these people. It is therefore important to help them make the first steps so that the process of their integration into normal life is as smooth as possible.

The three-year project was launched in Autumn 2018. Its aim is to raise awareness among international protection holders on the values and practical issues of life in the Czech Republic, their rights and responsibilities. The project is implemented in cooperation with the Department for Asylum, Migration, and Integration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior (OAMP) and the Refugee Facilities Administration (SUZ).

The new guide, as well as the integration courses, make integration easier, they offer help with finding a new home and getting involved in social life here,” says Pavla Novotná, director of the OAMP.

The publication will be available in Czech, English, Arabic, French, Ukrainian, Spanish, and Turkish. Two more translations will be made based on demand. There will be useful information about local cultural habits and traditions, as well as areas of everyday life such as education, employment, business, healthcare, social assistance and social security system, housing, transport, etc.

Starting from Autumn 2019, integration seminars for international protection holders in at least eight languages will take place in all Czech regions.

The Slovo 21 organization which coordinates the projects will reimburse the travel expenses of the participants for their journey to the seminar venue. Babysitting will be provided for the participants’ children if necessary. At each seminar, there will be a guest to make the one-day session more interesting. This will be a foreigner who has been living in the CR for some time and who has undergone a similar experience as the seminar participants.

For whom are the seminars intended? For anyone over 15 years of age who has been granted international protection (asylum or subsidiary protection) after 1^st January 2017.

How to register for the seminar? Through a website which has been running since September 2019. On the website, you can find information about the project and a registration form.

It is also possible to register by writing an email to [email protected].

The project is financed under the national program of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the budget of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.