The Slovak Republic provided a temporary shelter to 103 new refugees from Afganistan and Somalia. Families with children who had to flee their home countries due to risk of persecution, were granted international protection and they were transferred to Slovakia in March 2014. The refugees will be accommodated in an Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in Humenne for a period of 6 months. In the Centre they will complete all preparations for a life in new country. After that they will be permanently resettled to  the United States of America, or to other countries.

The photo is for illustrative purposes only, IOM Slovakia

This is already a fourth group of Afghan refugees, as well as a fourth group of Somali refugees  temporarily admitted by Slovakia on its territory based on the trilateral agreement between the Government of the Slovak Republic, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

IOM is responsible for the transportation of refugees to the Slovak Republic and from the Slovak Republic to the country of resettlement. Moreover, IOM provides services related to health assessment of refugees, and courses of cultural orientation which prepare the refugees for a new life in the country of their resettlement.

Activities of IOM in the project of Humanitarian Transfer of Refugees are financed by the by the US Government through its USRAP Program – United States Refugee Admissions Program, or by similar programs of other resettlement countries.