On November 6-7, 2024 an Autumn School on refugee protection took place. The continuous training activity, organized by the National Institute of Justice in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was aimed to judges and representatives of the General Inspectorate for Migration in order to strengthen their professional knowledge and skills when examining asylum applications and ensuring that the principle of celerity is respected in these cases.
The opening speeches were delivered by Bertrand Blanc, UNHCR Deputy Representative, Ecaterina Popa, Head of the training and research Department of the National Institute of Justice, Katelijne Declerck, Judge from the Kingdom of Belgium, former President of the International Association of Judges Specializing in Migration and Refugees. In her message, Ecaterina Popa underlined the importance of the training program that was organized at the request of the Superior Council of Magistracy in the context of the emerging legal situations in this segment.
The training sessions were delivered by Katelijne Declerck, judge, Andrew Painter, senior protection officer, and Sabina Sandu, assistant protection officer from UHCHR, as well as Aliona Miron, member of the Superior Council of Magistracy, and Oleg Palii, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Law Center.
During two days, a number of relevant topics were addressed, such as global migration and international refugee law, aspects of the asylum procedure in the judicial phase and sources of law in the Republic of Moldova, problems and challenges encountered in the examination of asylum applications, etc.
