New activities at MIC after 3 months
| New activities at MIC after 3 months |
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Bratislava, August 15, 2006 - During the first three months, the Migration Information Centre of the IOM has provided information and advice for almost 40 clients in Bratislava and 12 in Košice.
"Altogether 30 clients have requested help through the discounted phone line of MIC and we offered to them more than sixty phone or personal consultations. In ten cases, where a personal consultation took place, we are monitoring the long-term development," says the director of the Slovak office of International Organization for Migration Ms. Zuzana Vatráľová.
IOM in Slovakia opened two Migration Information Centres (MIC) this year - first one in Bratislava in April and the second in Košice a month later. Both centres offer help and advice to foreigners who already live or plan to settle and work in Slovakia. Migration Information Centre is a part of the ESF/Equal project "MIGRATION INFORMATION CENTRE TO ASSIST MIGRANTS AND TRAFFICKED PERSONS IN INTEGRATION INTO THE LABOUR MARKET AND SOCIETY". IOM's Migration Information Centre offers information and advice in the main areas such as residence, housing, work, education, social issues or healthcare. "The most requested information are how to gain a Slovak citizenship, obtain a work permit, what does one need to marry a Slovak citizen, more information about healthcare in Slovakia or international adoptions," adds Ms. Vatráľová. Comprehensive information regarding a social and labour integration of migrants in Slovakia can be found on the MIC website mic.iom.sk in three languages - Slovak, English and Russian. The study room of MIC offers information leaflets and some foreign periodicals, as well as free Internet connection. The importance of IOM's Migration Information Centre is underlined in the study of the Department of Social and Biological Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) "The needs of Migrants in Slovakia", which can be downloaded at the MIC's website. Cultural mediators and informational meetingsMIC relies on a wide-ranging cooperation with associations, groups, unions or informal clubs of foreigners living in Slovakia. The cooperation of MIC with migrants' communities happens also through the migrant representatives in Slovakia - cultural mediators. Since opening MIC has initiated contact with fourteen cultural mediators, who took part in two-phase training organized by MIC and SAS in June/ July 2006. The main purpose of this training was to familiarize them with the Slovak laws regarding the residence of foreigners, to inform them about the possibilities of cooperation with IOM for enhancing the life of their communities in this country, and to help them communicate more effectively with the majority society.Cultural mediators work with the ethnic and cultural communities in the regions, try to establish contact with closed communities and organize so-called informational meetings for the migrants with the aim to help them with the integration into the labour market and society, and support the community life. First informational meeting - for Portuguese speaking migrants from Africa - took place on July 8, 2006. Further plans of MIC include "The scheme of supporting the education and re-qualification courses for the migrants", which will start since September. The aim is to help the migrants' integration into the labour market through further education. In October, the Department of Social and Biological Communication of SAS, will organize a series of discussions in several towns, which will focus on improving the integration of the migrants into the Slovak society. |
Funded by the European Union.
The European Fund for the Integration
of Third-Country Nationals. Solidarity
and Management of Migration Flows.