The prospects of cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations

The cooperation perspectives have been discussed at the meeting among Vusal Huseynov, chief of the State Migration Service (SMS) and Furio de Angelis, the head UNHCR Baku office, held in the administrative building of the Service.

At the meeting held in the context of a mutual exchange of views, establishment of the relations between the Azerbaijan government and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Office on a good basis, which continues successfully today.

It was brought to the attention that since February 2008, the relevant structural unit for determination of refugee status is functioning in the SMS.

The appeals of persons intending to obtain refugee status are registered in the Service for investigation, and after appropriate procedures, each of them is informed of the granting of refugee status or refusal. Persons who have been denied status, are explained the reasons for the refusal, provide written decisions indicating the right of appeal in administrative or judicial order.

Vusal Huseynov noted that relevant issues are provided in order to improve the necessary conditions for the treatment of foreigners and stateless persons in connection with the granting of asylum created in the SMS. New biometric samples of the "refugee certificate" and the "road document" have been prepared by SMS.

There are 2 Detention Centers for Illegal Migrants of the State Migration Service operates in two regions of Azerbaijan (Baku and Yevlakh), the persons intending to obtain refugee status, if they have no places to live, they can voluntarily accommodated in these centers.

The chief of the Service noted that during 2007-2017, 1125 applicants applied to the State Migration Service (together with family members of 2210 people) for refugee status from various countries. At present, 46 applicants are registered in the State Migration Service (together with family members 75 people) as the refugee.

Vusal Huseynov stressed that serious measures will be continued to expand the scope of the works carried out within the framework of the campaign "End to statelessness within 10 years" and eliminating cases of statelessness. The participation of Furio de Angelis in meetings on the topic "Citizenship issue is one of the basic human rights" held recently by the SMS in Shirvan city to organize the documentation of persons without documents and with unidentified citizenship was also noted.

Furio de Angelis, the head representative office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Azerbaijan expressed his best wishes and appreciation for the sincere reception and attention paid to this sensitive topic at the beginning of his activity as the chief of the Service. F.Angelis also expressed the importance for the expansion of the cooperation. It was noted that the UNHCR office to Azerbaijan, together with the State Migration Service, prepared manuals "Shelter in Azerbaijan" in 6 languages for asylum seekers.

It was also noted that the employees of SMS’s competent departments take active part in the workshops conducted in the direction of "Improving the quality of asylum system" within the framework of the project "Support for the implementation of the Mobility Partnership with Azerbaijan (MOBİLAZE)".

At the meeting, an exchange of views was realized on the other issues of mutual interest.