20-03-2012
Owing to its geographical position, Transcarpathia is the most lively crossroad of legal as well as illegal transit migration. Just in the course of the last three years border guards, MOI and SSU officers in the region detained more than 6600 illegal migrants. However, there are also those persons in this flow – refugees, who need special attitude, protection.
In the year 2011 territorial body of Migration Service received 104 applications from persons applied for asylum in Ukraine. This figure is less in comparison with the previous years as there were 1186 such applications in the “peak” year 2007.
The experts explain it by some factors among which there is general decrease of volumes of illegal transit migration through Ukraine, strengthening of EU borders security pushing away the organizers of illegal migration from this direction, world economic crisis and consequently the lessening of demand for working power in European countries.
Though, a clear tendency in number increase of applications on refugee status granting is observed in a territorial angel of some countries. It is said about migrants’ applications originating from the countries with armed conflicts, where there is a danger of freedom, tortures or death penalty can be applied – these are Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq.
According to the words of the head of Refugee Department in Transcarpathian region Nikolay Tovt, the growth of appeals on protection from foreigners from some countries is caused also by the implementation of new Law of Ukraine “About refugees persons seeking temporary or subsidiary protection”, which since July of the past year has sufficiently broadened the list of conditions due to which protection is provided and the circle of persons this protection is applied to.
Thus, the asylum seekers, who were refused in granting convention refugee status before, started to appeal repeatedly with corresponding requests to bodies of Migration Service. So, during January-February of the current year, 33 foreigners enjoyed this right in the region. In all, during the last 15 years, about 4900 persons addressed to Migration Services of the region with request to grant them refugee status in Ukraine (the biggest number in the country). 36 migrants were granted official refugee status.