Asylum

Asylum and refugee issues, Asylum Policy in the European Union, Information on Countries of Origin, Resettlement 

Resettlement

• is an instrument of protection and provision of a permanent solution to a long-term unsatisfactory refugee situation in third countries;

• it combines the mechanisms of controlled migration, individual protection of refugees, the permanent resolution of their situation and expression of solidarity with the regions affected by refugee flow as part of the sharing of the burden in a refugee area;

• is an instrument used solely in situations where no other eligible permanent solution exists, that is, when the members of the refugee population cannot return to their country of origin for objective reasons while, at the same time, due to their background, being unable to enjoy sufficient protection or to be integrated in the country where they are currently staying (most often this is the country of the first asylum).

The Czech Republic endorses the tackling of global refugee problems and has all the resources to successfully join the states that already conduct resettlement.

Between the years 2005 and 2008, the Czech Republic carried out several ad-hoc resettlement projects, under which more than 30 refugees from Uzbekistan and Cuba were resettled to the Czech Republic. Such humanitarian resettlements serving to provide immediate and permanent protection for persecuted people have been and are carried out predominantly in cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2008, in its Resolution No. 745 of 27 June 2008 (pdf, 29 kB), the Government of the Czech Republic adopted the National Resettlement Programme Concept (pdf, 148 kB), presented by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. This document forms the theoretical framework for implementation of resettlement programmes.

National Resettlement Programme Concept

• defines the options of the Czech Republic in resettlement in theoretical and practical terms;

• sets up the basic mechanisms for implementing resettlement projects at all stages;

• the approved concept material also includes a proposal for Resettlement of a Group of Burmese Refugees from Malaysia as Part of the Pilot Resettlement Programme (pdf, 27 kB).

Therefore, the implementation of the national resettlement programme commenced with a pilot programme for resettlement of a group of Burmese refugees from Malaysia in the autumn of 2008.

• Resettlement of the First Group of Burmese Refugees from Malaysia

• Implementation of the Pilot Programme of Resettlement of Burmese Refugees from Malaysia – Arrival of the Second Group of Refugees by Air

Between the years 2008 and 2012, the Czech Republic resettled a total of 103 Burmese refugees from Thailand and Malaysia in several waves. Among other reasons, the Czech Republic decided on Burma because of the very bleak outlook faced by these refugees (due to the geographical location of Burma) in the countries of first asylum. India as well as Thailand and Malaysia are not signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and therefore their chances of obtaining at least a basic form of protection are very limited.

Besides that, the Czech Republic resettled and granted asylum to a Cuban political prisoner R. Pozada with his family in 2010 immediately after he was granted amnesty by the Cuban government.

• Czech Republic Grants Asylum to Cuban Political Prisoner, 25 October 2010

• Czech Republic Assumes Protection of Cuban Political Prisoner and His Family, 11 November 2010

All refugees resettled to the Czech Republic undergo a six-month integration programme in the Refugee Facilities Administration integration centre, which not only includes a very intensive course in the Czech language but also a cultural orientation integration course. After completion of this programme, individual refugees are moved to integration apartments in municipalities across the Czech Republic where their integration into Czech society continues.

Department of Asylum and Migration Politics, 26. August 2014