Inter-Municipal Coordination Platform

Inter-municipal Coordination Platform Technical Meeting in the Field of Refugees was held on May 3, 2023 with the cooperation of UNHCR and WALD. Officials of Istanbul Governorship Provincial Directorate of Migration Management and local government representatives attended the meeting.

Within the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals, with the approach of “Leaving No One and Nowhere Behind”, in the meeting where local governments and expert organizations participated; lessons learned as a result of the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes and disaster preparations for the big Istanbul earthquake were discussed. In addition, the services provided to refugee earthquake victims in the districts and how refugees and municipalities can contribute to disaster preparedness were discussed.

Elif Selen Ay, UNHCR Istanbul and Marmara Regional Director, who moderated the meeting, emphasized that “The migrations experienced after the earthquake affected not only migrants and refugees, but also millions of people who experienced the earthquake, and that these migrations are of critical importance for understanding the general context after the earthquake.”

Speaking at the second session of the workshop, Provincial Migration Management Expert Talha Erbay emphasized the importance of “Social Protection Desks and Urban Integration Units established by WALD in cooperation with UNHCR in district municipalities and underlined the need to strengthen the cooperation of national and international stakeholders that can provide a solution to the refugee problem”. The program ended with the discussion of what should be the priorities of local government representatives in disasters, especially in earthquake-related actions.