For many Chechen refugees Czech Republic is only transit stop, insists Czech Interior Ministry(Prague Watchdog) - The majority of Chechen refugees who arrived from Poland and applied for asylum here last year consider the Czech Republic only a stopover before heading on to Western countries, announced the Czech Interior Ministry officials at a news conference in Prague today.
Last year there were more than 4,500 Chechen asylum seekers in the Czech Republic; and 3,500 left without waiting for their applications to be processed.
According to the Ministry, the Czech Republic was not the Chechen refugees' target country. And Austria, where they were heading after spending a couple of months here at most, was not it either, stated Interior Ministry officials, based on information received from their Austrian counterparts.
Actually, these refugees were heading further west, namely to Belgium, France and Great Britain.
Czech NGOs claim that the main reason for the flow of the refugees out the Czech Republic shortly after their arrival is the fact that the Czech Interior Ministry staff make it clear to them that they would not be granted asylum here anyway.
According to the Ministry, thirty nine Chechens received asylum in the Czech Republic last year; and there are 143 Chechen asylum seekers presently housed in Czech refugee facilities.
On Monday, activists of Czech NGO Nesehnuti staged a protest outside the Interior Ministry to draw attention to the Chechen refugees’ complicated situation in the Czech Republic. Their slogan was, “Don’t Send the Refugees Back to War,” and they presented the Ministry with a petition signed by over 1,400 people who support the renewal of asylum proceedings for a group of 60 Chechens. These asylum seekers had their asylum applications turned down because they illegally crossed the border to Austria. They are now allegedly threatened with deportation back to Russia. The activists regard the Czech officials’ behavior not only as inhumane, but contradictory to international agreements that the Czech Republic pledged to honor.
Members of the Ministry who attended the press conference stated that these people duly appealed the Ministry's decision in the regional court; and in the event they lost their case, they can take it to a Court of Appeals. The officials refused to accept the NGO's accusation that they are behaving inhumanely as the expulsion of the refugees is not imminent.
(T/E) |
