BackThe Office of the Ombudsman and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) made a joint appeal today to all government authorities to give impetus to refugee reception and integration schemes, with a reminder that Spain must comply with the commitments made in the sphere of international protection.
In the context of the current refugee crisis and the binding commitments undertaken in the frame of the European Commission’s Agenda on Migration, the Office of the Ombudsman and the UNHCR made this appeal at the opening ceremony of the one-day conference “La acogida e integración de refugiados en España” (Refugee reception and integration in Spain) before representatives of the central, regional and local governments, specialised institutions and NGOs.
The Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril; the UNHCR representative in Spain, Francesca Friz-Prguda; and the honorary chairman of the Spanish Committee of the UNHCR, Antonio Garrigues, were responsible for inaugurating this gathering, the aim of which is to promote joint action by all the government authorities and roll out a framework for working together that makes it possible to reinforce and speed up schemes for refugee reception and integration in Spain.
The representative stressed the need for adequate communication and coordination mechanisms to be put in place and for the efforts made in this process by autonomous regions, municipalities, universities, NGOs, public and private institutions, trade unions and political groups to be taken into account. “Spain now has a magnificent opportunity to collaborate and to build, to give the refugees options for the future”.
Source: DEFENSOR DEL PUEBLO - España
