About 205 Somalis have submitted applications for asylum in Slovakia since the beginning of the year. Asylum was also sought by 89 Afghans, 59 Georgians and 40 citizens of Congo. Altogether the Migration Office of the Interior Ministry, which decides on asylum applications, recorded 680 applications this year, the SITA newswire reported.
The Migration Office has granted asylum in 27 cases so far.
“When a person proves that they were really persecuted in their country of origin, he/she can be granted asylum,” said Migration Office head Bernard Priecel, as quoted by SITA.
If a person does not prove such persecution, but comes from a country to which Slovakia cannot return him or her, such as Somalia, Iraq or Palestine, the foreigner might ask for so-called complementary protection, which is based on European law and is often called “small asylum”. The person is protected for one year and has the same rights as a person with asylum, Priecel explained.
He added that in recent years the number of people seeking asylum had dropped. While in 2001-2004 there were several thousand asylum seekers, in 2008 their number dropped to less than 1,000. Moreover, the number of people granted asylum has changed. While last year the Migration Office accepted 12 applications, in 2010 the number was 15, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
