DUSHANBE, 21.10.2020 (NIAT Khovar) – Today the new Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tajikistan Mulugeta Zewdie presented his credentials to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Muzaffar Huseynzoda.

During the meeting the parties exchanged views on important aspects of cooperation between Tajikistan and UNHCR and other issues of mutual interest.

Cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees began in 1993 at the invitation of the government to assist in returning Tajik refugees and internally displaced persons to their places of origin.

Tajikistan was the first country in Central Asia to accede to the Convention of the 1951 and Protocol of the 1967 relating to the Status of Refugees, starting to develop a national asylum system. From the first days of its activity in Tajikistan, UNHCR cooperates with the government to create a reliable asylum system as well as provide protection and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Tajikistan.

UNHCR activities in Tajikistan are carried out on the basis of the Agreement on Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and UNHCR, signed in May 2002.

Established in 1951 as an intergovernmental organization in the field of migration, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) works in close cooperation with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partner organizations. The organization helps in humane and orderly management of migration, supports needy migrants, and also helps in finding a practical solution to problems in this area.

In 1994 Tajikistan became a member state of the IOM, and in the same year the Agreement on Cooperation between the Government of the country and this UN agency was signed.