Refugees for Refugees – R4R is a pilot project activity that the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has been implementing within the project Support to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Serbia in an executive partnership with the UNHCR Office in Serbia. R4R involves the exchange of experiences between integrated refugees and refugees and asylum seekers who need additional support in integrating in Serbian society.
The integration process is a complex and long road which each refugee has to take in a new environment. However, where there is adequate support and motivation, familiarisation with the local culture and acceptance of the new social environment can yield great mutual benefits.
BCHR recognised the need for additional support to this specific group in the form of refugee assistants, who have themselves gone through the asylum procedure and the integration process and are keen to help people in a similar situation integrate and inform themselves about their rights and obligations in the most efficient way.
With their experience and advice, refugee assistants can familiarise interested clients both during the asylum procedure and after they are granted asylum, in a friendly and simple way with their rights and obligations, regarding employment, education, health care, easier navigation through new system of social rules and values, as well as high-quality and meaningful leisure activities. Assistants help empower other refugees by sharing with them their personal experience and a variety of skills and knowledge they need to cope better and communicate in Serbia.
R4R has been launched with the ultimate goal of helping refugees and asylum seekers to live in dignity in Serbia.
