Where do migrants “disappear”?… And the money allocated for them

In 2000, the UN General Assembly declared 18 December International Migrants Day, in recognition of the large and growing number of migrants in the world. Today, around 191 million people live outside their countries of origin. And cases of exploitation and discrimination against migrants still occur around the world.

Today, irregular migration remains consistently high, as people from countries affected by war and natural disasters try to save themselves and their families outside their own countries by any means necessary. However, concerns are growing about the increasing number of attempts to illegally cross EU borders, forced labour of migrants and human trafficking.

In addition to all these problems, as experts from the Coalition to Combat Discrimination in Ukraine note, refugees in our country have to deal with corruption, the inability to work legally, get married, and treat children.

In addition, as it turns out, there is also an issue with the detention of persons detained for illegal stay in the territory of Ukraine or awaiting the state’s response regarding granting refugee status. It seems that Ukraine, in order to save budget funds, decided to cover up some of these institutions on the sly.

So, according to official information posted on the website of the State Border Guard Service, in just 9 months of this year, border guards detained 1,317 illegal migrants, of whom 678 were for illegal border crossing, 613 were for violation of the rules of stay, and 26 were for other offenses. Interestingly, the aforementioned State Tax Service report does not provide the number of foreigners deported to their countries of origin and returned under readmission agreements.

At the same time, the number of persons who are already illegally present and residing in the territory of our state remains unknown, since the Government has not been able to decide for years on the body that would deal with this issue.

Considering that only 1 relevant temporary residence point for foreigners operates in Ukraine (Volyn PTPI “Zhuravichi”), as well as adding the number of persons who have received refugee status or additional protection in Ukraine since the beginning of the year, a logical question arises: “Where do migrants disappear to?”

We would like to remind you that, in accordance with the Ukraine-EU Action Plan in the field of justice, freedom and security, in particular in the areas of migration and asylum, the primary task of our country was to create a single body in the field of migration, which became the State Migration Service (SMS), as well as to rebuild within it special points for the temporary stay of foreigners. Today, there are 2 types of migrant detention facilities in Ukraine, which are under the jurisdiction of the State Migration Service:

1. Points for the temporary stay of foreigners and stateless persons illegally staying in Ukraine (PTPI). Such points are state institutions intended for the temporary detention of foreigners and stateless persons illegally staying in Ukraine and subject to administrative expulsion outside its borders in a forced manner. There are 2 such points in Ukraine – in the village of Razdudiv, Chernihiv region, designed for the simultaneous placement of 208 people, and the corresponding point in the village of Zhuravychi, Volyn region, equipped with 165 places for placing foreigners.

By the way, according to the results of monitoring conducted by representatives of the European Commission in 2009, the Chernihiv PTPI was recognized as one of the five best institutions of this type in Europe.

2. Along with the so-called “closed points” (PTPI), there are temporary refugee accommodation points (PTRB). PTRB is a place of temporary accommodation of persons who have applied for refugee status, for whom a decision has been made to process documents to resolve the issue of granting refugee status and who have been granted refugee status in Ukraine in accordance with the established procedure.

As practice shows, the PTRB also houses persons who previously applied for refugee status, were released from the PTPI and are in the process of appealing the decision of the State Migration Service regarding themselves.

According to the Department for Refugees and Foreigners of the State Migration Service, currently in Ukraine there are temporary refugee accommodation points in the city of Odessa for 200 places, in the Transcarpathian region – in the city of Mukachevo (for 70 places) and the village of Perechyn (for 50 places). Currently, work is underway to complete the reconstruction and ensure the functioning of a similar point in the Kyiv region (city of Yagotyn) for 250 places.

But in reality, since 2012, only 1 (one!) temporary refugee accommodation point has actually been operating in Ukraine – in the city of Mukachevo, since the corresponding point in the Odessa region was closed allegedly for planned reconstruction.

And since June 2013, the PTPI in Chernihiv region has also joined the closed and non-working points. The versions of the representatives of the State Medical Service regarding the reasons for the closure of the above-mentioned point are somewhat common. According to one of them, in early June 2013, an emergency situation occurred with water tanks. According to another, there was no accident, and the repair work was planned, for which the state allocated funds at the beginning of the year. But, despite all the assurances of the State Medical Service regarding the conduct of “planned repair work” in both of the above-mentioned points, today they actually remain non-working, moreover, the state does not give any forecasts or comments regarding the resumption of their work in the near future.

There is also an unofficial version on this subject, namely the financial disadvantage of maintaining two temporary residence centers in Ukraine at the same time, which seems more plausible, especially given that in early 2013 the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which previously assisted in supporting the Chernihiv and Volyn temporary residence centers, terminated the aforementioned funding program and, in connection with the completion of the project, these functions were fully transferred to the competence of the Ukrainian State.

It should be noted that over the years of cooperation, international organizations have taken on most of the current issues regarding the maintenance, voluntary return, treatment and provision of illegal migrants who are in temporary residence centers.

Therefore, it is not surprising that after the end of the financing of the centers by the IOM, Ukraine had to reimburse additional costs associated with the maintenance of migrants, which, apparently, were not taken into account by the administrator of state funds.

A number of important questions arise nearby. If the number of illegal migrants detained in the 9 months of this year significantly exceeds the number of places in the only currently operating temporary residence point for foreigners, then what is the fate of those who did not get into the walls of this temporary residence point? How exactly does the Government fulfill its obligation to the European community in the field of combating illegal migration? And most importantly: if existing points are being closed under various pretexts, why and for whom is Ukraine building new ones in the Mykolaiv region and near Kyiv? In addition, the need to create a point in the Kharkiv region was also stated.

By the way, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 605-r of August 22, 2012 approved the “Plan of measures for the integration of refugees and persons in need of additional protection into Ukrainian society for the period until 2020”, which also provides for “the development of a network of temporary refugee accommodation points in the regions of their greatest concentration”. However, this “development” is planned to be carried out during 2014-2016. It is unknown whether new points will be built if they cannot put the existing ones in order.

Viktor Tarasov, Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights