DUSHANBE, October 6, 2010, Asia-Plus — On Wednesday October 6, Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev received Mr. Saber Azam, Regional Representative/Regional Coordinator for Central Asia at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor’s office, says the sides discussed issues related to protection of rights refugees and creation of adequate conditions for them, as well as preparations for a roundtable entitled “Problems of Mixed in Central Asia” that will take place in the Kazakh capital from October 9-10.
The concept of ‘mixed migration’ has recently been developed by UNHCR and adopted by a wide range of actors. The term refers to migratory movements – usually irregular ones – of people taking the same routes and same means of transport but traveling for ‘different reasons’ and having ‘different protection needs’.
The Dushanbe mayor expressed confidence that the roundtable meeting in Astana will play an important role in tackling problems facing refugees in the region.
Mr. Azam, for his part, noted that Dushanbe’s experience in tackling refugees problems was instructive for capital cities of other Central Asia’s countries and was studied by the UN institutions, the spokesman said.
The UNHCR Office”s operations in the five Central Asian countries are similar, given the common groups of concern and similar operating environments. Afghans remain the largest and the most widely dispersed refugee group in the region. In 2010-2011, the Office will continue its advocacy for these countries to accede to the international statelessness instruments, and work with relevant national structures on prevention and reduction of statelessness.
