Country Reports on Activities Related to the Access to the Territory And
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Country reports on activities related to the access to the territory and asylum procedure for Published by: United Nations High Commissioner for persons in need of international protection Refugees Regional Representation for Central Europe Published by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Representation for Central Europe Budapest, November 2010 Table of Contents Foreword .........................................................................................................................................................5 Bulgaria ...........................................................................................................................................................6 Czech Republic ............................................................................................................................................14 Hungary .........................................................................................................................................................28 Poland ...........................................................................................................................................................60 Romania ......................................................................................................................................................102 Slovakia .......................................................................................................................................................134 Slovenia .......................................................................................................................................................184 UNHCR Offices in Central Europe ............................................................................................................194 UNHCR Implementing Partners for Border Monitoring in Central Europe ...........................................195 4 REFUGEES AT THE BORDER UNHCR Foreword This publication represents a compilation of seven country reports detailing the development and operations of the Border Management and Protection of Refugees activities in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Poland. One of the main regional operational goals of UNHCR in Central Europe is access of asylum seekers to the terri- tories of State Parties to the 1951 Geneva Convention and to the asylum procedure. In order to achieve this goal, UNHCR has established border monitoring projects across the region. These projects are based on tripartite cooperation framework between government authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and UNHCR. The first tripartite agreement was concluded in Hungary in 2006. Thereafter, similar agreements were signed in other countries of the region and notably Slovakia –September 2007, Romania – July 2008, Slovenia – October 2008, Poland October 2008, and Bulgaria in April 2010. UNHCR in the Czech Republic focuses on monitoring the asylum procedures at the Prague Airport through an NGO partner. The report provides a detailed overview of those country level activities undertaken by the principle signatories to the agreement/s, which ensure that persons in need of international protection have access to the territory and procedures. The activities include monitoring visits conducted at the border cross points and detention centres to evaluate the access to the territory and procedures. During such monitoring visits the implementing partners do also provide protection information and legal counselling to persons of concern to UNHCR. Among other activities the agreements foresee is training of the Border Police. The trainings are specifically de- signed, taking into account the specific needs of the Border Police of the countries involved. The trainings focus on the international refugee protection regime, paying attention to the needs of vulnerable persons and those with special needs. From an operational context, the country reports share details on how the national working groups set up, as envisaged in the signed agreements, handle and solve matters of concern identified during the monitoring activities. This publication is an attempt to openly provide the reader with information on the successes, good practices and challenges of the BMPR projects in Central Europe including areas where further focused actions are need- ed and being addressed. Gottfried Koefner Regional Representative for Central Europe UNHCR REFUGEES AT THE BORDER 5 Bulgaria 6 REFUGEESREFUGEES AT THE BORDERBORDER BulgariaBulgaria UNHCR Report on Border Monitoring Activities in Bulgaria Table of Contents 1. Overview .........................................................................................................................................................8 2. Activities .........................................................................................................................................................9 Annex 1. Information material for asylum seekers (Bulgarian Red Cross) .............................................11 Annex 2. Information material for asylum seekers (Bulgarian Helsinki Committee) .............................12 Annex 3. Initial Interviewing Form ..............................................................................................................13 UNHCR Bulgaria REFUGEES AT THE BORDER 7 1. Overview Bulgaria joined the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2007. The total length of its borders is 2,368 km, of which the length comprising of the EU external border is 1,226 km. In 2002 the Law on Asylum and Refugees was adopted, and the responsibility for assessing claims for international protection lodged at the national borders was taken away from the competencies of the Border Police. The State Agency for Refugees (SAR) became the only competent body in charge of Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures. The border guards were obliged to defer to the SAR for processing any claim for protection made before them. With no responsibilities under the RSD procedure, the Border police had no budget to cover interpretation, food and medical treatment of asylum seekers. The Chief Directorate of the “Border police” is a specialised guarding, operative and investigation police office of the Ministry of Interior responsible for the protection of the state borders and control of the observance of the border regime. It carries out its functions within the border zones, including the zones of the border control checkpoints, the international airports and seaports, the inner sea waters, the territorial sea, the adherent zone, the continental shelf, the Bulgarian part of the river Danube, the Border Rivers and water basins. The Law on Asylum and Refugees was further amended in 2007, and one of the amendments made stipulates that RSD proceedings begin with the registration of the applicant (not the claim). The legal status of a person who applies for international protection (in particular before another state authority) is unclear from the moment of filing the application until he/she is registered in SAR, i.e. personally present. This legal limbo is of particular concern, as the person is not protected from refoulement Meanwhile, in 2008 another piece of secondary legislation was enforced1 which impeded access to RSD procedures. The provision of Art.16 of this Ordinance is of serious concern as it introduced a rule that all asylum seekers who claimed protection at the borders and who appeared to be undocumented should be transferred by the border guards to the centres for accommodation of illegal aliens but not to the State Agency for Refugees reception centres. Exception from this rule is made only with respect to vulnerable asylum seekers such as separated children, pregnant women and physically or mentally disabled individuals. This provision removes the responsibility from the SAR to accommodate asylum seekers upon their registration and shifts it to the Ministry of Interior. Asylum seekers who claimed protection at the national borders upon entry were not properly safeguarded from refoulement and prolonged detention. 1 Ordinance for the Responsibilities and Coordination among the Government Agencies for the Implementation of EC N 343/2003 and EC N 1569/2003 Regulations on Dublin II, EC N 2725/2000 and EC N 407/2002 Regulations on EURODAC 8 REFUGEES AT THE BORDER Bulgaria UNHCR 2. Activities Bulgaria was one of the first countries in Central Europe to reach in 2004 an official agreement between the Border police and the asylum non-governmental sector formalising their practical cooperation and the existing monitoring methods and arrangements. In 2005, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) signed an agreement with the Border Police to perform border monitoring activities. The BHC has been an Implementing Partner of UNHCR since 1994. BHC is implementing systematic border monitoring in order to ensure that all asylum seekers who arrive at national borders are duly registered and protected from refoulement. In 2009, monitoring covered Sofia Airport, Kapitan Andreevo and Novo Selo. Under a ERF-3 Legal Aid Project from June 2009, the monitoring was expanded to Lessovo, Elhovo and Burgas. During the reported period the BHC implemented 244 monitoring visits and checked 742 individual cases of illegal immigrants in border custody. Thus, refoulement of 314 asylum seekers, 42 of whom were children and 3 Dublin returns, was prevented, which constituted 36.8% of all asylum claims submitted in 2009. No