STANDARDIZATION OF REFERRAL MECHANISMS FOR REFUGEE PROTECTION
According to the Final Report of the “Conference on Strengthening Referral Mechanisms” held on 17 November 2020, a systematic relationship cannot be established between NGOs and public institutions in the field, and a practical orientation has not been realized.
From the final report:
- There is a rapidly increasing need for referral experience, one of the effective protection of all Turkey stakeholders.
- For the referral to provide effective protection, legal and administrative restrictions on refugees’ rights and status should be eliminated.
- All stakeholders are required to advocate for the updating of legal regulations on the one hand and to act together to standardize the referral procedures in the current conditions.
- There is a need to establish feedback mechanisms regarding the results of referrals.
- Platforms, where refugees can submit their complaints before public institutions and local administrations, should be established.
- One of the most important obstacles to accessing rights and services through referrals is the lack of language and interpreter. If interpreter support can be provided, this can speed up public institutions’ work and facilitate the processes
Effects of COVID-19:
- The public institutions that were referred could not be as fast as NGOs in providing online services and using the internet. Services have been observed to slow down. Even in the normalization process, Provincial Immigration Authorities only made newborn registrations.
- The fact that public institutions’ services and supports did not cover refugees caused the need to be more pronounced.
- The fact that the referral institutions’ employees were also COVID-19 positive caused the services to be disrupted. The referrals came to a halt. However, with the normalization process, regular service processes began, albeit with delay, with the electronic appointment system.
- With COVID-19, NGOs that provide protection and guidance generally adapted themselves to a fast-online service system. Online channels like Zoom began to be used for support, but services and referrals remained limited as not everyone had access to these tools.
- The support provided by NGOs could not cover everyone. Information flow between public institutions and NGOs slowed down. Restricting NGOs and public servants’ contact in the field has been a significant obstacle to reaching refugees in distress.
- With the change in the working hours of the institutions, the existing insufficient translation support has increased. The shortage of staff of NGOs reduced their service quality.
- Some of the NGOs that provide protection and guidance have very limited in-kind / in-cash aid budgets that prevented many emergency responses. There were difficulties in the well-being of NGO employees who directly supported them.
- COVID-19 has also challenged the motivation of civil society workers. The restriction of NGO workers’ contacts in the field has been a major obstacle to reaching refugees in distress.
- Difficulties were encountered, especially in detecting cases with high sensitivity. Children at risk and sensitive cases could not contact NGOs, or similarly, NGOs could not reach them.
- Due to the language barrier, access to health problems has increased because of the NGOs’ inability to accompany their beneficiaries, especially at hospitals.
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Please click for English Consolidated Report
“Providing information and protection assistance to vulnerable refugees in Turkey and enhancing community-based protection” project is funded by European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).
This document covers humanitarian aid activities implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of the European Union, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
This article was translated by Hale Özen who is a volunteer at IGAM's Education Without Distance project.
