Alarming conditions in Ukraine: Refugees are victims of extensive corruption

Report from PRO ASYL and Border Monitoring Project Ukraine (BMPU) uncovers systematic exploitation of asylum seekers European refugee policy is responsible for this, too

Report from PRO ASYL and Bor­der Moni­to­ring Pro­ject Ukrai­ne (BMPU) unco­vers sys­te­ma­tic explo­ita­ti­on of asyl­um see­kers
Euro­pean refu­gee poli­cy is respon­si­ble for this, too

Refu­gees who are pas­sing through Ukrai­ne try­ing to reach the Euro­pean Uni­on are not only expo­sed to mas­si­ve human rights vio­la­ti­ons, but also find them­sel­ves expo­sed to a sys­tem of exten­si­ve cor­rup­ti­on. Whe­ther it is release from detenti­on, issuing of papers or a place in an accom­mo­da­ti­on for refu­gees: not­hing of this is available for refu­gees in Ukrai­ne wit­hout having to pay bri­bes. Often, even for help from non-govern­men­tal orga­niza­ti­ons the pay­ment of bri­bes is necessary.

The­se con­di­ti­ons are docu­men­ted in the 34-pages report published by PRO ASYL and Bor­der Moni­to­ring Pro­ject Ukrai­ne (BMPU) “You want to be free? You pay money!”. The report is based on rese­arch in Ukrai­ne which has been con­duc­ted over seve­ral years and which invol­ved around one hundred inter­views with refu­gees. The results are alar­ming: reports of cor­rup­ti­on are run­ning like a red thread through almost all bio­gra­phies of asyl­um see­kers who were pas­sing through Ukrai­ne on their escape rou­te to the EU.

This is par­ti­cu­lar­ly scan­da­lous against the back­ground that for years the EU is gran­ting orga­niza­tio­nal as well as finan­cial sup­port to Ukrai­ne to build up a migra­ti­on sys­tem which pre­vents refu­gees to reach Euro­pe. For many years, neigh­bor­ing count­ries such as Hun­ga­ry and Slo­va­kia deport refu­gees back to Ukrai­ne. It is the incre­asing exter­na­liza­ti­on of the Euro­pean refu­gee pro­tec­tion to neigh­bor­ing third count­ries which fur­ther rein­forces the cor­rup­ti­on docu­men­ted by the report: If count­ries as the Ukrai­ne – whe­re wages and remu­ne­ra­ti­ons are scar­ce­ly enough to make a living – are stop­ping refu­gees on behalf of the EU, it is not sur­pri­sing, that asyl­um see­kers are expo­sed to cor­rup­ti­on. The­r­e­fo­re it is not only the Ukrai­ne which has to fight against cor­rup­ti­on in the Ukrai­ni­an Asyl­um System.

PRO ASYL and Bor­der Moni­to­ring Pro­ject Ukrai­ne call on the Ukrai­ni­an inves­ti­ga­ti­ve aut­ho­ri­ties to pro­se­cu­te cases of cor­rup­ti­on within the asyl­um and detenti­on sys­tem. Fur­ther to this, the Euro­pean Uni­on as a part­ner and pro­mo­ter of the Ukrai­ni­an migra­ti­on and asyl­um sys­tem has to take con­trol mea­su­res against cor­rup­ti­on. The same is to be done by the Inter­na­tio­nal Orga­niza­ti­on for Migra­ti­on (IOM), the UNHCR, their Ukrai­ni­an part­ner orga­niza­ti­ons and any other orga­niza­ti­ons that are invol­ved in the Ukrai­ni­an asyl­um sys­tem. Refu­gees who are vic­tims or wit­nesses of cor­rup­ti­on must be given the oppor­tu­ni­ty to press char­ges wit­hout fea­ring the reta­lia­ti­on from the offen­ders. The sys­te­ma­tic black mai­ling of asyl­um see­kers in Ukrai­ne must be stop­ped imme­dia­te­ly. Espe­ci­al­ly Hun­ga­ry and Slo­va­kia must urgen­tly stop ille­gal depor­ta­ti­ons to Ukraine.

The com­ple­te report in Eng­lish can be found here: bit.ly/Corruption-Report_Ukraine

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