Press Advisories

15. 2. 2023 17:12

The National Coordinator for the Integration of War Refugees will be Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková. She wants to strengthen cooperation with regions an

The National Coordinator for the Integration of War Refugees will be Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková as of 21 February 2023. The Government decided this at its meeting on 15 February 2023. Prime Minister Petr Fiala sees the main task of the coordinator as strengthening cooperation with the regions. Laurenčíková wants to focus, among others, on the protection of vulnerable groups of refugees and to promote synergies between the health, social, education and security sectors.

"Having dealt with the first crisis phase of the refugee wave, it is now important to further strengthen the government's cooperation with the political representation in the regions. We need to focus on good cooperation between all key actors to support the process of adaptation and integration of war refugees, a large number of whom are women and children,“ stated the Prime Minister.

"I want to promote good interdisciplinary cooperation between social, educational and health services, as well as security forces. We also need continued interaction between state actors and NGOs who have done a great job,“ added Šimáčková Laurenčíková.

She considers the protection of vulnerable groups essential. "In the Czech Republic, there is a significant percentage of people over 65, unaccompanied children, pregnant women and mothers with children under three, people with disabilities or serious illnesses, and people with mental health problems. It will be important to develop support services for the following groups of people,“ she pointed out.

Šimáčková Laurenčíková has been the Government's Commissioner for Human Rights since May 2022. In this role, she was also involved in the Strategic Group for Coordinating the Impact of the Refugee Wave related to the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine, which was previously under the Ministry of the Interior.

The government resolution also changes the name of the group, which served as a regular meeting point for representatives from the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs and Education, Youth and Sports. It will now function directly under the Office of the Government as the Strategic Group for Coordination of Adaptation and Integration of Refugees from Ukraine.

"This is a solution that we have had in mind for several months. Therefore, the Commissioner has participated in this group and is ready to assume her new role,“ stated the Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan. The Minister also praised the work of the group and stressed that the Czech Republic had managed the first refugee wave thanks to inter-ministerial cooperation, but also thanks to the involvement of mayors, representatives of regions and the Czech population.

The Czech Republic has granted temporary protection status to 488,000 people from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict on 24 February 2022. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, approximately 100,000 of them have already found employment in the labour market.

‘‘The Minister also praised the work of the group so far and wanted to continue the good cooperation with the National Coordinator, especially in the area of prevention of labour exploitation and support for vulnerable groups,“ added the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka.

‘‘We must also focus on the prevention of risk phenomena such as falling into poverty, loss of housing or sexual exploitation,“ noted Šimáčková Laurenčíková.

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