Interview for the World Refugee Day with Mrs. Maria Cheresheva

In commemoration of the World Refugee Day, 20 June 2015, FNF East and Southeast Europe took an interview with a Bulgarian journalist and activist for refugeеs and migrants, Mrs. Maria Cheresheva. You can watch the interview here or continue reading it below. 

Mariya Cheresheva is a journalist, Vice-President of the Association of European Journalists - Bulgaria - the Bulgarian section of AEJ international, pan-European journalists' organization and an independent observer to the Media Committee of the Council of Europe. In her work, Mariya is deeply involved with covering migration, human rights and combating discrimination and hate speech in Bulgaria. In 2013, she became one of the founders of the civil initiative “Friends of the Refugees”, which brings together thousands of people in assisting asylum seekers in Bulgaria through humanitarian relief and integration efforts. She has first-hand experience with working with refugees both inside and outside the refugee camps as well as with the institutions and NGOs involved with asylum seekers.


FNF: Mrs. Cheresheva, please present yourself. What kind of experience do you have dealing with refugees?

Cheresheva: My name is Mariya Cheresheva and I am a journalist. I work for the Association of European Journalists. Apart from covering the stories of refugees and migrants, entering Bulgaria, since 2013 I have engaged in different voluntary initiatives in support of these target groups. In 2013 I became one of the coordinators and founders of the civil initiative “Friends of the Refugees”, which has united thousands of Bulgarians online and aims to provide voluntary humanitarian, integration and legal aid to all the people that were entering Bulgaria and facing very severe situation here after fleeing their home countries, torn by wars and other conflicts.

FNF: What is the current situation in Bulgaria three years after the first wave of refugees?

Cheresheva: Three years later, there are some significant improvements in the situation of the refugees in Bulgaria and still some spheres, where improvement has to be sought. In terms of numbers currently, according to the State Agency for Refugees, between 3000 and 4000 people are living in the reception centers, one third of them are children. Most of the people are coming from Syria, whereas the number of people coming from Afghanistan and Iraq is constantly increasing. In terms of reception conditions we can admit that Bulgaria has improved a lot the situation by renovating the centers and now the people are accommodated in some relevantly normal conditions, compared to 2013, when literary there was no place, where thousands of people and their families could be accommodated and they had to live in some old and destroyed buildings. Still there are challenges in terms of the integration of the refugees that are living in Bulgaria as well as the quality of the procedures of providing asylum protection.

FNF: What are the main problems the refugees are facing now in Bulgaria?

Cheresheva: Currently, the biggest problem related to the refugees is the absolute lack of integration opportunities for them in Bulgaria. For the past three years there has been no integration program that offers the people that have been granted asylum status in Bulgaria any access to language courses, economic system, educational system and housing. Therefore, it means that after receiving status, they are completely left without opportunities to become an integral part of the society. On the other hand, many of the refugees are willing to continue their way to Western Europe, where they believe they have better opportunities. Unfortunately, according to the Dublin Regulations, all the refugees that have been granted asylum in Bulgaria can be returned back from countries such as Sweden or Germany. This again means that the country must provide better integration opportunities in a very timely manner because if that doesn´t happen, thousands of people will be literary left on the streets without any opportunities to continue their life normally here in Bulgaria. 

FNF: What is the role of media in shaping the public perception of refugees?
 

Cheresheva: Unfortunately, in the peak of the so-called refugee crisis in the middle of 2013, the Bulgarian media had played a very negative role in creating the image of refugees and migrants in Bulgaria. They were initially framed as a threat and a problem for the society, a threat that created grounds for spread of diseases, of terrorism, of crime, of stealing the jobs of Bulgarians and other social problems. Currently, a few years later, there is a significant improvement in the coverage of the refugees in the media, related also to the better preparedness of the journalists on the topic, which used to be marginal before that. Now there are many more stories covering the reasons for the people to enter Bulgaria and their current problems here. Still there are negative left-overs that the media and we, as journalists, created about the topic. Therefore, we are very responsible for continuing the unbiased and objective coverage of the problems, the role of the Bulgarian state and also of explaining to society that the refugees, coming here are not terrorists, they are actually escaping wars and terrorism in their home countries and all they look for is an opportunity and understanding. 

FNF: What should the government do to improve the situation of refugees?

Cheresheva: There are certain measures on national level that the Bulgarian government should take and implement as fast as possible. The first one is introduction of an updated integration program that offers access to housing, labor market and language courses to the people that have been granted asylum status, so that they can start their life in Bulgaria as a normal part of society. On the other hand, Bulgaria should improve the quality of the procedures for granting status to the refugees, regardless of their country of origin and reviewing every application case by case, no matter, if the person comes from Syria or Sudan, for example. 

Also there are certain measures that need to be taken on international level. In my opinion, Bulgaria should behave as part of the European Union in terms of the new migration policy, because the country is very affected by the increased migration in recent years. Therefore, Bulgaria should play an important role in shaping the new policy in terms of more solidarity and shared responsibilities of the different countries, no matter if they are external borders or in the heart of the European Union.