STA, 18 December 2018 - Slightly over 2,800 people requested international protection in Slovenia so far this year. Although Slovenia is not the target country for most migrants, the number of asylum requests increased by 10% compared to 2017, the government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za oskrbo in integracijo migrantov) said on Tuesday, International Migrants Day.
Data show that 255 asylum seekers reside in the country at the moment, as well as nearly 550 of those who already have international protection.
Since it gained independence in 1991, Slovenia approved international protection to just under 810 foreigners.
The biggest challenge for the office and a top priority for 2019 is finding solutions to provide housing for unaccompanied minors. The office will also work on an integration strategy next year.
Talking to the press today, office director Mojca Špec Potočar said that the most frequent question the office gets is whether Slovenia was really setting up registration centres for migrants.
She said that such centres would only be set up if the police deem it necessary. Moreover, the temporary facilities would be set up in order to allow the police to conduct the necessary procedures and would not serve as a housing solution. In fact, the migrants would stay there for a maximum of 72 hours.
At the Ljubljana Asylum Centre, the office hosted a ceremony to mark International Migrants Day. The event featured asylum seekers, who talked about their lives and their hopes for the future.
The Educational Research Institute also held a press conference today, expressing criticism that education of migrant children is too focused only on language skills and that there are poor systemic links between formal and informal education.
Researcher Alenka Gril presented the findings of Sirius, a Europe-wide study. She also praised a project dubbed Challenges of Intercultural Cohabitation developing an integration model across 95 schools and kindergartens.
Meanwhile, Slovenian Philanthropy, a charity, called for a new migration strategy, noting that Slovenia drafted the 2010-2020 Strategy on Economic Migrations nearly a decade ago and the 2002 Resolution on Migration Policies nearly twenty years ago.
The NGO also welcomed Slovenia's decision to join the UN Global Compact for Migration.
