Refugees who have desire, potential or need to become locally integrated should be enabled to do so. Unfortunately, for many refugees integration in a local society is very often challenging for reasons, such as lack of political will of the host countries, sometimes combined with negative perception of refugees created by the media and negative attitude of the public. There is a general tendency to forget that local integration is a two-way process: these are not only refugees who benefit from integration in a host country, but at the same time refugees make a valuable contribution to its society. To achieve social and economic integration refugees do not take the place of someone else in the county of asylum, but they can always find a place of their own if they are given such an opportunity and supported in their endeavours. Appropriate legal and social assistance have to accompany the local integration process, including financial support from donors and expertise of international agencies.
We should not forget that refugees, same as other citizens, have the right for education and gainful employment. By giving them an opportunity to succeed professionally we create a better and culturally diverse environment for ourselves. Refuges bring variety of new skills to our lives; they open new horizons for all those surrounding them.
The Project Local Integration of Refugees in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNHCR, was established to provide assistance to refugees to integrate into a new country, achieve self-sufficiency and reduce their dependence on foreign aid.
This brochure was created in order to illustrate that a successful integration of refugees into the Ukrainian society is really possible. All heroines and heroes of these stories come from different countries, are of different age, sex, religion and profession, but they all are united by one dream – to live in peace and dignity in the country they’ve chosen, even if involuntary, to become their home.