MINELREL-L Archive (10021999-18:47:10-589)

Subject: ERRC Letter to Finnish and Belgian Prime Ministers


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Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 18:47:09 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Subject: ERRC Letter to Finnish and Belgian Prime Ministers


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Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>

ERRC Letter to Finnish and Belgian Prime Ministers


On September 27, 1999, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an
international public interest law organisation which monitors the
rights of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights
abuse, sent a letter to Mr Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland,
urging him to invoke all powers available to his office to prevent the
forced return of Romani asylum seekers from Slovakia to the Czech
Republic. Copies of the letter were also sent to Finnish Minister of
Justice Mr Johannes Koskinen, Interior Minister Mr Kari H=E4k=E4mies
and Mr Matti Saarelainen Director General of the Directorate of
Immigration. The text of the ERRC letter follows:
 
Honourable Prime Minister Lipponen,
 
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is concerned at
reports that Finnish authorities intend to return to the Czech
Republic Slovak Romani asylum seekers arriving from the Czech
Republic, on the grounds that the latter is a "safe third country".
 
In late June, over one thousand Roma from Slovakia reportedly arrived
in Finland and requested international protection. Despite protest by
the ERRC in the form of a letter of appeal sent on June 30 to the
Ministry of Interior, Finnish authorities responded by imposing a visa
regime on Slovak citizens on July 5, arousing fears that further
Slovak Romani refugees may be effectively precluded from access to
legitimate asylum procedures in Finland. On July 6 the ERRC sent a
letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms Tarja Halonen to advocate
that the visa regime be revoked, as well as to urge that claims by
Slovak Roma be considered in accordance with Finland's obligations
under the 1951 Convention Pertaining to the Status of Refugees. On
July 27, Mr Jarmo Viinanen, Adviser to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, responded to the ERRC with a letter which included the
following: "Minority rights are among the priority areas of the
Finnish human rights policy. In that context, Finland has constantly
paid particular attention to the situation of the Roma. I subscribe to
the view that the precarious situation of this European minority in
various countries of the Central and Eastern Europe gives cause for
concern. Finland has given an active contribution towards improving
this situation in the various relevant fora and will continue to
highlight this issue in the future. [...] The introduction of a visa
requirement for a period of four months was mandated by a sudden
arrival of more than a thousand Slovak Roma asylum seekers. When
taking this decision, the Finnish government stressed the fact that
this is a temporary measure. Furthermore, a high-level Finnish expert
on Romani affairs has already visited Slovakia with a view to gaining
first-hand information on the situation on the ground. [...] With
regard to the asylum applications, they will all be dealt with
individually. As is prescribed by the Finnish law, the final decision
will be taken by an independent Court of Justice."

The ERRC has since been informed that a large number of the
above-mentioned Slovak Roma asylum seekers fled from Slovakia via the
Czech Republic to Finland. We further understand that the Finnish
authorities propose to return these Slovak Roma to the Czech Republic
as a safe third country for asylum. The ERRC submits that the Czech
Republic should not be regarded as a safe third country with respect
to returned Slovak Roma; firstly the asylum procedures in the Czech
Republic are inadequate. Secondly, Slovak Roma in the Czech Republic
are in danger of being victimised by the discrimination faced by all
Roma in the Czech Republic, including the risk of inhuman and
degrading treatment and threats to physical safety. As a result of
both deficiencies in the asylum system and ingrained racism against
Roma, Slovak Roma may be hindered in obtaining access to the asylum
procedures.

Asylum procedures in the Czech Republic are presently inadequate. The
authorities of at least two European countries have recognised that
the Czech Republic does not provide adequate asylum. First of all, in
June 1998, the government of the United Kingdom conceded in a case
before the High Court that three asylum seekers should not be returned
to the Czech Republic as a safe third country because they could not
be guaranteed an adequate asylum procedure. Secondly, on June 23,
1999, the Independent Federal Asylum Senate of Austria ruled that the
Czech Republic could not be regarded as a safe third country for three
reasons:
(i) the time limit relevant to claims for asylum designated to the
'short procedure' was so short as to give rise to concerns over the
adequacy of asylum procedures in the Czech Republic;
(ii) the Czech Republic could not be deemed a safe third country
because of the risk of 'chain expulsion' therein;
(iii) although there was a possibility of  court review by the Supreme
Court against a refusal of refugee status in the Czech Republic, this
appeal, by law, did not have suspensive effect on expulsions.  There
is a danger that a genuine refugee could be refouled in breach of the
1951 Geneva Convention.
 
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Amnesty
International have, on a number of occasions raised similar concerns
with Czech authorities. Amnesty notes, in a report entitled "Report on
Political Refugees: Safe Third Countries (Example: the Czech
Republic)", "There might have been some cases of deportation or
turning away, especially to the Slovakian Republic."
 
The ERRC additionally believes that the Czech Republic is not a safe
third country of asylum for Slovak Roma because there is generalised
discrimination against all Roma, including the risk of inhuman and
degrading treatment and threats to physical safety. The Czech Republic
has one of the highest rates of racially motivated killing of Roma
since 1989 in a country not in the throes of civil war. Numerous
documented instances of racially motivated crime against Roma in the
Czech Republic can be found on the ERRC internet homepage at
http://errc.org. A high number of racially motivated attacks against
Roma in the Czech Republic remain without adequate judicial remedy.
According to a recent Czech government report, the gravest cases of
racially motivated violence in 1998 were the killing of a Romani woman
named Helena Bih=E1riov=E1 in Vrchlab=ED in February and the killing
of a Romani man named Milan Lacko in Orlov=E1 in May. The ERRC notes
that in the former case, judicial authorities did not qualify the
crime as racially motivated, while in the latter, all convicted
perpetrators received suspended sentences.
 
The ERRC is aware that Finnish authorities state that they have
received a commitment from Czech authorities to allow all the Slovak
Roma returning to Prague to enter the asylum procedure. The ERRC has
not seen written confirmation of such a guarantee. The existence of
such a document notwithstanding, the ERRC believes that given
widespread xenophobia and racism towards Roma in the Czech Republic,
officials cannot uniformly and reasonably be presumed to entertain a
claim for asylum from a Slovak Rom.
 
For all of the reasons delineated above, the ERRC urges your office to
invoke all powers available to your office to prevent the return of
Romani asylum seekers from Slovakia to the Czech Republic.

Sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director
 
Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact Prime
Minister Mr Paavo Lipponen at the fax number: (358 9) 160 22 25
*****************

On September 30, 1999, the ERRC sent a letter to Mr Guy Verhofstadt,
the Belgian Prime Minister, to express its concern about recent
reports according to which a large number of Romani asylum seekers
from Slovakia are to be deported back to Slovakia in the days to come.
Copies of the letter were also sent to Mr Johan Vande Lanotte, Belgian
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Budget, Social Integration
and Social Economy, and Mr Antoine Duquesne, Minister of the Interior.
The text of the ERRC letter follows: 

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of abuse, is concerned about recent
reports according to which a large number of Romani asylum seekers
from Slovakia are to be deported back to Slovakia in the days to come.
ERRC is additionally disturbed by an article in the daily Het Laatste
Nieuws of September 20, quoting the Prime Minister himself saying,
that, "We have been talking with Albania and Slovakia and we modestly
began with repatriation. But also with Bulgaria and Macedonia and with
Kosovo we want to reach a repatriation agreement in order to let the
many illegals go back quickly. Refugees from countries like Slovakia
and Bulgaria are not even real asylum seekers, because there are no
political problems there which would justify this. Moreover, these are
countries that want to join the European Union. We cannot allow that
in the meantime masses of illegals from there come to Belgium."

Roma in Slovakia routinely suffer racial discrimination and
racially-motivated violence, and Slovak authorities have repeatedly
failed to guarantee the rights of Roma to physical security and
equality, and to provide remedy in cases in which their rights have
been violated. The United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees'
1998 Guidelines relating to the Eligibility of Slovak Roma Asylum
Seekers found it "clear" that "Slovak Roma may well be able to
substantiate refugee claims based on severe discrimination on ethnic
grounds." 

The Roma in Kosovo have suffered wholesale persecution and violence in
recent months, and international monitoring organisations, both
governmental and intergovernmental, have repeatedly called attention
to their precarious situation. Since June of this year, ethnic
Albanians have expelled possibly over 100,000 Roma from Kosovo, and
have killed, raped, tortured and otherwise ill-treated Roma, burned
their houses and subjected those attempting to remain in the province
to uninterrupted wave of ethnically-motivated violence. Documentation
on the situation of Roma in Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia and
Slovakia is available on the European Roma Rights Center internet
website at http://www.errc.org. 

Mr. Minister, ERRC urges you to see to it that claims for asylum by
Slovak Roma are considered in accordance with Belgium's obligations
under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and to
ensure that Roma are not discriminated against in access to asylum, as
provided for in Article 3 of the Convention and other binding
international law. ERRC further urges your government to grant all
Roma from Kosovo seeking refuge in Belgium a refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees, as persons fleeing a country in which their lives and
fundamental rights are in immediate danger.

Sincerely,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director

Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact Prime
Minister Mr Guy Verhofstadt at the fax number: (32 2) 512 69 53. 
*****************

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org. 

European Roma Rights Center
H-1525 Budapest 114
PO Box 10/24
Hungary

Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356

*****************

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
tranfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to: 

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest 
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

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