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Slovakia to Provide Shelter for 100 Refugees
Wednesday 22 December 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 22 (TASR) - Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic, along with Lim Wei Meng of the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner's Office for Refugees and Zuzana Vatralova of the International Organisation for Migration signed an agreement in Bratislava on Wednesday to provide temporary shelter for 100 refugees in Slovakia.
"It's as if Slovakia was partly repaying a debt, as we, too, once lived in an era of no freedom. An era when rights of many were denied and lots of our citizens emigrated to other countries. And thus, we have a duty as well to try to help those people whose lives or freedom may be at risk. It's our moral obligation," said Lipsic after signing the document.
The refugees – their ethnicity as yet unspecified – will be accommodated at the political asylum facility in Humenne (Presov region) and provided with food. Their six-month stay will cost approximately €140,000, with Slovakia covering a portion of the cost via the Interior Ministry's budget and the rest coming from European Funds.
In 2009, Slovakia provided temporary political asylum to refugee Palestinian families with children – ethnic minorities in the Baghdad area.
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