| 17 October 2008 
A press conference entitled “Rights of refugees and migrants in Ukraine” was held on 16 October 2008 involving Oleksandr Sagan, Head of the State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Religions; Eduard Bagirov, human rights activist; Oleksandr Saponov and Rovshanbek Rozmetov, lawyers. Talking to the press conference, SCNR Head Oleksandr Sagan emphasized that public authorities must comply more thoroughly with provisions of existing legislation and international law concerning the practice of refugees’ return to their countries of origin. He underlined that, according to international human rights organizations, there are some countries where refugees, if extradited, are at the risk of tortures and physical extermination. This in turn imposes an obligation on Ukraine to respond in a most thorough way to such facts and apply efforts to protect refugees’ rights in its territory. Answering mass media’s questions on prospects of establishing a State Migration Service in Ukraine, Oleksandr Sagan stated that the State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Religions backs up the idea and believes that the State Migration Service should have the status of a central executive authority.
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