Information on Safe Migration
We promote the role of women in society,
revealing her personal potential, professionally
assisting in the realization of civil and social rights
revealing her personal potential, professionally
assisting in the realization of civil and social rights
Held hostage by circumstances
Thousands of Belarusians have become hostages of closed borders. Each of them has their own story. Elmira left for Azerbaijan 12 years ago. Immediately after graduating from school, she went to her relatives in Baku. She did not return. There she was welcomed with open arms. Soon the girl got married and had three children in the marriage. During all her marriage, she never came home. Her sisters and father visited her themselves. Elmira did not have a significant reason to come to Belarus. She was constantly with her two young daughters and an autistic son who required increased attention and care. Having left for Baku right after school, of course, she planned to come to Belarus, her homeland, many times, but she did so only recently. It so happened that she came to Brest just before the pandemic was declared worldwide.
A few months ago, a terrible thing happened: the girl's husband died in a car crash. Elmira was left alone with the children. Her Belarusian passport had long expired, and she had been planning to come and change it all the time. Since there was no time to delay, the woman left the children with her mother-in-law in Baku, and went to her hometown to see her parents, sisters, and friends. The reason for the visit is joyful, but overshadowed by the circumstances. No one expected the borders to close and the woman to be unable to return to her children.
She changed her passport, there were no problems with that, but she failed to return to Baku. First of all, Elmira called the Azerbaijani embassy in Belarus. The embassy did not help her. She would not have received permission to enter even if she were a citizen of Azerbaijan, not Belarus. The key factor preventing her from crossing the border and returning to Azerbaijan was the global problem. And here we need to show patience and understanding.
Based on the latest sources of information, Elmira will not be able to cross the border of Azerbaijan until the end of May. No transportation services are being provided. And even despite the fact that she has a passport and the woman is the sole guardian of the children, she will not see them soon.In Azerbaijan, as in many other countries, strict security measures have been taken to counter the spread of the virus. Now quarantine measures have been introduced in the country, which means that:
— borders with neighboring countries are closed;
— passenger traffic has been interrupted in all directions;
— classes have been suspended in educational institutions;
— people are in self-isolation;
— government agencies and departments have been transferred to remote work until further notice.
All information about the situation related to the pandemic in Azerbaijan here.
And there are many such countries. Accordingly, there are countless people who have become hostages of circumstances. Some came to Belarus to visit and cannot leave. Others, on the contrary, are stuck in another country and cannot return home. The "hotline" of the NGO "Club of Business Women" for safe travel and stay abroad and combating human trafficking, with the support of the International Organization for Migration in the Republic of Belarus, receives calls for help every day. The situations are different. Some people's wedding did not take place, others ran out of money in another country, some planned to go to work and study, but are forced to wait.
Attention to foreign citizens in the territory of the Republic of Belarus in need of assistance in returning to their homeland.
The Representative Office of the International Organization for Migration, in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Border Committee, is implementing a program to facilitate the voluntary return and reintegration of migrants. Participants in the program can be foreign citizens who voluntarily wish to return to their homeland. Due to the current epidemiological situation, the primary target audience of the program is the most vulnerable categories of migrants in transit to their homeland and who are currently unable to leave Belarus, but intend to voluntarily leave Belarus when air travel resumes.
An application to participate in the voluntary return program can be left by phone:
8 (029) 645-49-44, 8-801-20-15-555, 8-0162-21-88-88 or by sending an appeal to the email bpwbrest@mail.ru.
Calls and written appeals are temporarily not accepted.
Calls and written appeals are temporarily not accepted. Use the information posted on our website! 
