Moldovan police trained how to treat refugees

Officers at the Ministry of the Interior were informed at a training seminar on Wednesday how the refugees should be treated and how to treat related subjects in communicating with the media. Dumitru Maxim, the chairman of the UNCHR's Society for Refugees in Moldova, has told Info-Prim Neo that this is the first seminar of this kind for the Moldovan police, where they are informed about the particularities of refugee-related issues. “We hope that following this seminar the participants will know the problems related to asylum better and will treat correctly the asylum-seekers in Moldova”, said Dumitru Maxim. Sergiu Moscalenco, head of the Ministry's PR Department, said that the seminar will hopefully have a beneficial impact on the Ministry's officers, who will be informed about the matters discussed at the seminar through the officers responsible for public relations. UNCHR Resident Representative in Moldova Petrus Wijninga said that, while generally there are no objections to the Moldovan authorities as to the treatment of refugees, immigrants and asylum-seekers, communication in this field should be improved. UNCHR is collaborating with the Ministry of the Interior through the Migration and Asylum Bureau and its subdivision, the Department for Refugees. UNCHR has been working in Moldova since 1997, being authorized by the UN to administrate and coordinate activities related to the international protection of refugees and resolution of their problems.