I wanted to express my appreciation and to congratulate Ms. Antonia Kotseva on the editorial piece which she has published under the headline ‘Refugees Are No Tourists!’

This is precisely true. Refugees are indeed not tourists, but extremely vulnerable children, fathers, and mothers who have escaped the horrors of war and persecution to find a sanctuary.

I think it is regretful to say that there may be a humanitarian crisis if the current rate of arrival continues. The fact is that a handful of the 42 million displaced people around the world have reached Bulgaria over the past 20 years, and 1,400 of the more than 2 million Syrian refugees have asked for asylum here over the course of the year.

Instead of criminalizing refugees by locking them away in detention centres, we should be debating how to assist, provide shelter and food, and give refugees the opportunity to restart their life.

Thank you again for your expressed opinion.

Kind regards,

Boris Cheshirkov
unhcr.org