Amendment to the Asylum Act
The Ministry of the Interior has introduced an amendment amending Act No. 326/1999 Coll. the so-called “Asylum Act”. The amendment to the Asylum Act significantly tightens the conditions for granting asylum and extends the reasons for not granting it. The Home Secretary, Jan Hamáček, said: “If any foreigner who wants to apply for Asylum has committed a serious crime, e.g. a robbery, and who would otherwise be entitled to asylum, will not be granted asylum.”
New grounds for the refusal of asylum are extended in Section 15 (3) by the following two reasons:
(c) there are legitimate reasons to regard the alien as a danger to the security of the State in which he or she is present; or
(d) the foreigner has been, at some time throughout his life, convicted of a particularly serious crime and constitutes a danger to society.
If a foreigner does not receive asylum in the Czech Republic for these reasons but cannot return to his country, he falls under the so-called institute of tolerance, meaning that the authorities must tolerate the foreigner and acknowledge his basic rights until the situation which caused him to leave his country changes. Then the authorities have the right to expel them. According to Pavla Novotná, head of the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy, these cases won´t happen very often.
In addition to the introduction of the aforementioned institute of tolerance, the Ministry also presents a new definition of recognized refugees. Recognized refugees are now not only to be those who have been granted asylum, but also those whose refugee status is being withdrawn from the state. The status of recognized refugee will remain throughout the trial, including court proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) in the event of the refusal of asylum. The new definition of a recognized refugee is codified in Section 2 of the Asylum Act as follows:
“A recognized refugee is a foreigner who is waiting to be served with an asylum decision. A recognized refugee is also a foreigner with whom asylum withdrawal proceedings have been initiated until the Ministry’s decision on the withdrawal of asylum comes into force, during which period they can file an action under Section 32 or a cassation complaint, or complaints against decisions of the Ministry under the Code of Administrative Procedure. “
For more information please contact:
Monika Rutland, partner
rutland & partners, advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
tel: +420 226 226 026
email: monika.rutland@rutlands.cz
