BISHKEK PROPOSAL - 2006 AMBASSADORS' FUND FOR

UNCLAS BISHKEK 000778 SIPDIS SIPDIS TBILISI FOR REFCOORD DEPARTMENT FOR PRM (E. TOURE AND N. IRIS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF KG SUBJECT: BISHKEK PROPOSAL - 2006 AMBASSADORS' FUND FOR REFUGEES REF: BISHKEK 626 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Post is pleased to propose PRM support through the Ambassador's Fund for Refugees for UNHCR efforts to mark World Refugee Day on June 20, particularly two cultural programs as well as an information campaign designed to highlight the rights of refugees and focus attention on their plight. Throughout the past year, the Embassy has worked closely with UNHCR to protect the rights of Uzbek and other refugees in Kyrgyzstan. Marking World Refugee Day in Bishkek will serve to reinforce with both the Kyrgyz government and public Kyrgyzstan's international obligations to protect the rights of refugees, particularly those of the four Uzbek refugees remaining in Kyrgyz custody and who at risk of refoulement back to Uzbekistan. Post also proposes using $1,000 for scholarships for refugee children. The total cost of the proposal is $3,000. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) In April UNHCR Bishkek approached Post and asked for $8,800 in financial assistance to hold a series of events, including cultural programs and an information campaign in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20. According to UNHCR Bishkek, UNHCR Geneva provided no money to UNHCR Bishkek this year to mark World Refugee Day. In previous years, UNHCR Bishkek received full funding from UNHCR Geneva to mark World Refugee Day in an effort to highlight the plight of refugees and raise public awareness about Kyrgyzstan's international obligation to protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. This year, UNHCR hopes to put on the cultural programs in Bishkek and Osh, provide training/seminars for journalists on refugee issues, conduct a nationwide information campaign, including in schools, to raise public awareness of refugee issues. Given events of the past year, UNHCR Bishkek feels it is particularly important to publicly and visibly mark World Refugee Day this year. Considering the attention paid to refugee issues over the past year, World Refugee Day events are also likely to receive widespread coverage in Kyrgyzstan. The OSCE Center in Bishkek as well as the Swiss Embassy in Tashkent have already contributed $1,800 and $1,000, respectively, to the UNHCR World Refugee Day effort. ¶3. (U) Post further proposes providing $1,000 in scholarships to refugee children in Kyrgyzstan. ¶4. (U) Post's implementing partner in the World Refugee Day project will be UNHCR Bishkek, which has extensive experience planning and hosting World Refugee Day events in the past. Post's implementing partner for the refugee scholarships will be the Adilet Legal Clinic, which has extensive experience working with refugees and was Post's implementing partner for a previous grant under the Ambassador's Fund for Refugees. ¶5. (U) Post certifies that it has the authority and capacity to award a grant to the proposed recipient(s) by the end of the current fiscal year. YOVANOVITCH