Moldova issues world’s only postage stamp to mark UNHCR’s 60th anniversary

CHISINAU, Republic of Moldova, November 25 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Moldovan postal service Posta Moldovei today launched a commemorative stamp marking UNHCR’s 60th anniversary helping people forced to flee persecution.

Moldova is the only country to commemorate UNHCR's anniversary year with a special postage stamp, a step likely to create much excitement amongst philatelists around the world.

“The Refugee Convention was adopted in 1951 to help 2.1 million Europeans uprooted by World War Two, today nearly 44 million people are displaced worldwide, equivalent to almost the entire population of Ukraine,” said Peter Kessler, UNHCR Representative to Moldova. “UNHCR’s work now  extends to more than 125 countries and encompasses people forced to flee across borders as well as those in flight within their own countries.”

In Moldova the UN refugee agency is working with the government to address the needs of more than 2,200 persons, mainly stateless persons but also several hundred asylum seekers and refugees from CIS countries as well as Africa and Asia.

“We are very pleased to commemorate UNHCR’s 60th anniversary with the support of Posta Moldovei and the Ministry of Information Technology and we are very happy that thanks to this stamp, more Moldovans and also people worldwide will become aware of the plight of refugees,” Kessler declared. 

With UNHCR’s advice and support, Moldova this year prepared legislation on statelessness determination and the integration of foreigners. Laws on accession to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness are currently being examined by Parliament.

The two statelessness agreements are key legal instruments in the protection of stateless people and in the prevention and reduction of statelessness. Together with producing the long-delayed Convention Travel Documents, known as refugee passports, the legislative measures form an important part of Moldova’s Visa Liberalisation Action Plan with the EU.

Since commencing work in Moldova in 1997, UNHCR has spent nearly $20 million to help the government care for refugees and establish necessary laws and procedures.

“Moldova has made a number of important steps in recent years and has amongst the best examples of asylum legislation in the region, which also provides for complementary protection,” Kessler said.

The UN refugee agency is currently renovating two buildings near Chisinau to provide apartments for refugees under the EU-supported Local Integration project, which also ensures language training in Romanian and other direct support to refugees. UNHCR is training Border Guards and police to ensure proper application of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The EU-supported Regional Protection Programme includes workshops on refugee law for the judiciary and assistance to the Refugee Directorate of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

UNHCR is advocating for the Government of Moldova to sign the European Agreement on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees. Together with the production of biometric Convention Travel Documents for refugees, beneficiaries of humanitarian protection and stateless persons, the agreement, which has been signed by nearly every EU member-state, will help ensure documented refugees can move more freely.

For additional information you may contact UNHCR Representation in Moldova

68, A. Mateevici str., MD-2009

Tel. 27 18 53, 27 08 65 fax: 27 19 53, e-mail: mdach@unchr.org

You may also wish to visit the websites www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.org.md