On 20 June, we celebrated World Refugee Day in an expression of empathy and solidarity with the plight of millions of people forced to flee their homelands due to conflict and persecution. The day was celebrated with various events in Sofia, with the National Palace of Culture lit up in blue to honour the strength and courage of people seeking peace and a normal life. Sofia Development Association, for its part, organized the Hackathon “Beyond Borders: breaking stereotypes, building bridges”, funded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency under the project “Support for the development of integration policies and services for refugees in Sofia” in which 4 teams participated and presented their projects to a jury. Their challenge was to create an online campaign that opposes the use of discriminatory language and hostile attitudes towards refugees and migrants.
In parallel with the celebration of Refugee Day, the Bureau of Information and Services for Foreign Nationals continued to provide assistance to those in need through a number of positive events. During the month of June, over 120 people benefited from the services provided at the Bureau. „Legal advice“ remained one of the top services requested, along with „accompaniment to various institutions“ and applications for „financial assistance“. A large number of visitors also benefited from humanitarian assistance.
The official website of the bureau offers a monthly programme which describes the different activities by day and time. The content of this programme is in several languages: Bulgarian, English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic and Persian.
You can find the program for June in Bulgarian HERE.
You can find the program for June in Ukrainian HERE.
You can find the program for June in English HERE.
You can find the program for June in French HERE.
You can find the program for June in Russian HERE.
You can find the program for June in Arabic HERE.
You can find the program for June in Farsi HERE.
The project Support for the Development of Integration Policy Framework and Service Provision for Refugees in Sofia is supported by UNHCR – Bulgaria.