ASYLUM seeking adolescents who come to Slovakia without their parents or other legal representative will not be sent to the camp for asylum seekers. They will wait for the decision at the facilities for social protection of children and social guardianship, according to the amendment to the law on asylum authored by the Interior Ministry.
The ministry has already submitted the new law for interdepartmental review, the SITA newswire reported on November 18.
Based on the new rules, the foster homes where the unaccompanied children are currently placed will have to create conditions for making interview with asylum seeking adolescents directly at its premises. It will also have to create room for the adolescents to meet with representatives of international organisations.
Moreover, when the asylum seekers reach legal adulthood, they will be able to ask the facility to stay there and not be sent automatically the camp for asylum seekers, Marta Fabianová of the Interior Ministry said, as reported by SITA.
The foster home will also have to inform the Interior Ministry if the adolescents who asked for the asylum left the home without consent. If they are out of the foster home for more than seven days, the asylum proceeding will be stopped.
The amendment also changes some paragraphs of the law on socio-legal protection of children and social guardianship, as well as the Code of Civil Procedure and the law on residence of foreigners. It should also harmonise the Slovak laws with European regulations that apply for the international protection, Fabianová said, as reported by SITA.
If passed by the government, and subsequently the parliament, the amendment will come into force on July 1.
It was the Human Rights League (HRL) which pointed to the problem with asylum seeking children to the camp where mostly the adults are. According HRL lawyer Zuzana Števulová, such practices should change. The reason is that children can meet there smugglers or human traffickers.
The HRL further said that between 2009 and 2013, 775 unaccompanied children came to Slovakia altogether, but 70-90 percent of them disappeared. Some asked for asylum, but most of them were placed in the special foster home in Medzilaborce. These children often become victims of human trafficking, sexual violence or labour exploitation, 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.
