Coordination Meeting 25th of March

On the 25th of March, the Prefect,  Mr. Moldovan chaired a coordination meeting between civil society and institutions.

Mr. Moldovan expressed a great deal of appreciation for the excellent and exemplary collaboration between institutions and civil society.  He encouraged and ensured that any observations or complaints will continue to be well received and resolved.

Representatives of ANPTP – the National Agency  for the prevention of Trafficking of Persons and DGASPC talked about their activities.  The ANPTP distributed a material with points for recognizing and preventing trafficking and said that materials in Ukrainian are posted at transit points, in the airport, train station etc.

Also – following the meeting there was an awareness session with Tana Matei, which will be described in a separate article

DGASPC is now present 24 hours in several shifts of teams of two. One is present together with the translators, to identify any cases that need more attention.  The other colleague is at the Blue Point container.   There are three types of cases of children: children accompanied by a legal guardian, unaccompanied children – not accompanied by a guardian travelling alone, separated children-  that were travelling with a guardian but were separated

Ms. Credlescu clarified that in the case of unaccompanied children, they are placed in emergency custody for up to 5 days while they resolve the situation by contacting the legal guardians and obtaining a written delcaration of permission for a person to accompany the child, either a relative, or a volunteer.   In the case of separated children, which are fewer cases, they work to reunite the child with family.

Ms Credulescu also  discussed the need for finding ways to better inform Ukrainians before crossing the border about the fact for example that minors that are 16-18 must be accompanied by legal guardian or someone offiically designated to accompany them.  There were about 30 such cases recently because of misinformation on the Ukrainian.

More information and better ways of ensuring it reaches all refugees are needed as some refugees were approached for example by people claiming they needed to buy train tickets, when in fact all train transportation is free.

Although in recent days the flow has decreased, there is a need for the civil society to stay on high alert and be ready for rapid changes in influx.  Nearby in Chernivsti there are currently 400,000 IDPs that could easily decide to cross the border, causing sudden surges in influx.  In the previous days there were about 3900 people and 800 cars passing through the border point.  Still most – 80-90% are transitting through Romania with plans to reach other EU countries.  Already more disadvantaged people are showing up however.

The head of the police reported that they have not had major interventions, and most of their work centered around tracing and establishing connections between family members, when they have lost contact for some years and now need to reconnect with relatives in Romania or other EU countries in order to have a place to go to.

There is a need to improve the traceability of vulnerable refugees when leaving the perimeter and entering into the country.

Also the point was raised that the QR code with the 112 app which was being distributed on a flyer is no longer available, so perhaps refugees can be encouraged to download it directly into their app when being welcomed until more paper versions are available again.

The Layers Bar in Suceava – there are 50 lawyers offering support, and when there are needs for notaries etc they can be involved.