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 | Refugee Voices Spring 2010 Issue is Out!
"The hardest thing for me is when I hear about a refugee's situation and I can’t do more to help. You see your limitations." In this issue of Refugee Voices, we talk with a group of refugee community interpreters about their experiences helping refugees convey their stories and salute their hard work and devotion. The issue also profiles an Afghan artist who shares the life he left behind, a group of Iranian refugees in Van who discuss their daily challenges, and young Sudanese refugees who describe their troubled home and share their dreams for a better future.
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| hCa Welcomes MOI Circular on Residence Permit Fees for Refugees / May 2010
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly welcomes the circular recently issued by the Ministry of Interior reiterating the right of local authorities to exempt indigent asylum seekers and refugees from paying residence permit fees.
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| Turkey Coordination For Refugee Rights launched today*
Joint Press Statement, 15 March 2010, Ankara
Seven leading human rights organizations from Turkey have launched the Turkey Coordination For Refugee Rights (Turkiye Mülteci Haklari Koordinasyonu) as a new framework for cooperation and joint advocacy efforts to promote and uphold the legal protection of individuals escaping war and persecution and seeking asylum in Turkey.
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| Residence Fees Charged to Asylum Seekers: Fee or Extortion?
25.10.2009
A refugee who receives a temporary residence permit in Turkey must pay the same fee as a manager of a foreign company working in Turkey. Turkey should abolish residence fees for asylum seekers and refugees who are given temporary residence in Turkey while their asylum applications are being examined or while they are waiting to be resettled in a third country.
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| Unsafe Haven: The Security Challenges Facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Turkey - July 09
“All refugees have problems in Turkey. However, I believe that some problems are very unique to our situation. Many LGBT refugees have no one to turn to. Refugees who fled their countries because of their political activism often can turn to their political parties for support. Refugees who fled for religious reasons can turn to their religious communities. Some refugees can turn to their families in their home country for support. Many of us left everything behind. We have been cut off from our communities, our families in our countries and have no one to turn to.”
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| Refugee Voices - World Refugee Day Special Issue - June 2009
To celebrate World Refugee Day 2009, HCA has published a new issue of Refugee Voices, featuring the experiences and expression of refugee youth living in Istanbul.
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| Refugee Voices Spring Issue is Out! / April 2009
Refugee Voices is a journal dedicated to the views and voices of refugees living in Turkey and published with the support of the Refugee Advocacy and Support Program of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Turkey. The latest issue includes an interview with Mahad, a Somali man who now lives in the US after being recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR in Turkey; the story of Enzo, a Congolese musician, who fled his country because of his political views; and an article describing the dangers that refugees experience while crossing borders.
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| Benefits of legal aid during UNHCR procedures / 09 March 2009
In November 2008, UNHCR's Division of International Protection Services invited HCA to make a presentation on "the benefits of legal aid during the UNHCR refugee status determination procedure." The presentation took place during a training in Istanbul for UNHCR staff from Turkey, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and a range of Central Asian countries. Attached is HCA's summary of the benefits of legal aid to refugees, UNHCR staff and the status determination procedure as a whole.
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| JOINT PRESS STATEMENT / October 23, 2008
Van General Directorate Of Security Illegally Deported 22 Uzbek Refugees To Iran -
This recent deportation of refugees in Van, a city in Turkey’s east, raises a number of concerns. As discussed below, it is the second illegal deportation of a group of Uzbek refugees to Iran in a period of one month.
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| hCa is now a member of ECRE / 18.07.2008
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - Turkey is the first organization in Turkey invited to become a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a European network of agencies assisting and advocating for refugees' and migrants' rights.
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| “Refugee Voices”: June 20th, World Refugee Day / 20.06.2008
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) declared the 20th of June to be World Refugee Day in the year 2000. The 20th of June has been celebrated since then as a day that draws attention to the plight of refugees and that celebrates the courage of people who are forced to leave their countries and homes to find safety from persecution. This special edition of Refugee Voices focuses on World Refugee Day, portraying the lives and challenges faced by refugees in Turkey.
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| Spring 2008 issue of Refugee Voices newsletter is published
May 23, 2008
“My friends and I sleep during the day and we wake up at night, because each of us eats only one meal a day. If I don’t move during the day, I lose less energy. This is how I live.”
With these striking sentences published in the new issue of hCa Refugee and Advocacy Program’s tri-monthly newsletter, a refugee living in Aksaray introduces us to his daily life.
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| New report from the Refugee Support Program of hCa: "Unwelcome Guests: The Detention of Refugees in Turkey’s "Foreigners' Guesthouses" / April 2008
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly - Refugee Advocacy and Support Program (hCa - RASP) released a recent report entitled "Unwelcome Guests: The Detention of Refugees in Turkey’s Foreigners Guesthouses." The report is based on interviews held between October 2006 and September 2007 with 40 refugees from 17 different countries who had been detained in ten “foreigners’ guesthouses” in Turkey.
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| A wedding story on the new issue of "Refugee Voices" newsletter / December 2007
"Refugee Voices" is a quarterly newsletter, prepared within hCa's Refugee Advocacy and Support Program. The winter edition of the newsletter, published in December 2007 includes articles about a wedding story of a young Somalian couple from Istanbul, organisation efforts of Congolese people in Istanbul and suspicious death of Festus Okey from Nigeria.
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| An Evaluation of UNHCR Turkey’s Compliance with UNHCR’s RSD Procedural Standards
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly prepared an evaluation report on UNHCR Turkey's compliance with UNHCR's Refugee Status Determination Procedural Standards, with the overall aim of assessing UNHCR Ankara office's compliance with specific aspects of the Standards and make relevant recommendations.
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| 3rd issue of Refugee Voices Newsletter is published/
September 2007
"Refugee Voices" is a quarterly newsletter, prepared within hCa's Refugee Advocacy and Support Program. The fall edition of the newsletter, published in September 2007 includes articles about the lives and problems of refugees living in Turkey, as well as a comprehensive evaluation article on the refugee movements around the world.
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| Refugee Support Program brochures are available in six languages now
Refugee Support and Advocacy Program of hCa prepared a brochure entitled “Information for People Applying for Refugee Status in Turkey”. The brochure, which is designed to provide information to asylum seekers, refugees and non-governmental organizations working with refugees, includes information on topics such as the definition of a refugee, how to apply for refugee status in Turkey, and information on the UNHCR procedures.
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| hCa's PRESS RELEASE -
We will be pursuing the case of Nigerian asylum seeker, Festus Okey, who has been killed at the Beyoðlu Police Department
(29 August 2007, Ýstanbul) –The fatal shooting of the Nigerian asylum seeker, Festus Okey, by a police officer at the Beyoglu Police Department on the 20th of August 2007, is the ultimate ill-treatment case sanctioned on asylum seekers and immigrants living in Turkey. We urgently call upon the authorities to investigate the case thoroughly and bring the responsible to justice.
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| Illegal Deportation Of Asylum Seekers In Turkey Must Stop
(August 9, 2007) In a joint press statement issued today, Amnesty International (AI) Turkey and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly- Turkey (hCa) expressed their grave concerns about the widespread cases of the illegal deportation of asylum seekers, as well as the denial of their right to have access to asylum procedures in Turkey.
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| World Refugee Day Activity in Konya
On June 17, 2007, two representatives of the Refugee Advocacy and Support Program of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa) – Turkey travelled to Konya to support the World Refugee Day activities organized by refugees in that city. To hCa’s knowledge, this was the first celebration of World Refugee Day in Turkey initiated and organized by refugees themselves.
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