About fifty Syrian refugees who arrived in Croatia from Turkey through the resettlement programme will be accommodated in Sisak in mid-July, representatives from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Croatia said on Tuesday.

This is the first group of a total of 250 refugees who are currently in the Kutina asylum centre and will be housed in state-owned flats and be given asylum status.

JRS on Tuesday conducted an educational meeting with state administration, city and county representatives, as well as people in education, health, welfare and other institutions, to prepare them for accepting the Syrian refugees.

Ten state-owned flats have already been prepared to accept the refugees and another ten are being prepared for the same purpose, it was said at the meeting.

Activities concerning the acceptance and integration of refugees will be conducted by JRS, while the Interior Ministry will finance the process with European funds.

Croatian language classes will be organised for the refugees and children will be enrolled in school, and once adults have passed re-training courses, they will be put in contact with employers as part of an employment programme.

The resettlement programme is an expression of international solidarity and sharing the responsibility with countries where there are large numbers of people who require international protection, and a tool to manage legal migrations and prevent people smuggling, it was said.