Woman traveled from Ukraine, due to war, to seek refuge in Panama

A Ukrainian citizen, who left her country, requested refuge from the Panamanian State due to the armed conflict in her native Ukraine, after Russia’s invasion of that country.

Hussein Pitty, director of the National Office for Refugee Assistance (ONPAR), attached to the Ministry of Government (MinGob), said that the woman is the first person to travel from Ukraine and request refugee status in Panama, after detonating war. Pitty went to the Tocumen International Airport to receive the applicant.

“Today we receive a citizen of Ukrainian nationality who has expressed interest in requesting international protection in our country and as part of the mandate that we have from the National Office for the Attention of Refugees, we have come to receive personally and that Panama as a A state that respects and guarantees the human rights of all foreigners who are in our jurisdiction, will guarantee access to the procedure and we will evaluate the determination of refugee status in accordance with current regulations,” said Pitty.

He stressed that to date they have seven other requests from Ukrainians who were already in Panamanian territory before the war broke out. He said that they were in Panama for tourism, family visit or business reasons.

He assured that they are attending to the 8 requests to be able to give refuge to these people who cannot return safely to their homeland.