Buffeted in the borderland
Subtitle: the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants in Ukraine
By: [Bill Frelick and Simone Troller]
Contributors: Troller, Simone; Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 124
ISBN-13: 9781564327161
Subjects: Human rights; Abuse of; Emigration and immigration law; Alien detention centers; Right of Asylum; Legal status, laws; Political refugees
Other titles: Treatment of asylum seekers and migrants in Ukraine; Ukraine, buffeted in the borderland
Description: "The European Union has long seen Ukraine as a stepping point for refugees and migrants on their way to Europe.  Accordingly, it has spent tens of millions of Euros to divert the flow of migrants and asylum seekers and shift the burden they generate away from the Union and into Ukraine. One cornerstone of its strategy was the conclusion of an EU-wide readmission agreement with Ukraine, which entered into force in January 2010.  The EU's monetary support has largely focused on securing Ukraine's borders and constructing migrant detention facilities. The EU has not done enough to ensure that migrants in Ukraine are treated humanely, that they are not arbitrarily detained, and that asylum seekers and members of vulnerable groups are protected.  Migrants and asylum seekers in Ukraine, including children, face a real risk of ill-treatment at the hands of border guards and police, and they often are detained arbitrarily. Some migrants recounted how officials tortured them, including with electric shocks, after they were apprehended trying to cross into the EU or following their deportation from Slovakia and Hungary. Ukraine's asylum system is deeply dysfunctional and rife with corruption.  Ukrainian law does not provide for protection of those who flee generalized violence and war, or for trafficking victims. No Somali nationals and only one unaccompanied child are known to have been granted refugee status.  The latter are barred from entering asylum procedures altogether in some regions of the country.  This report includes the accounts of asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, who managed to leave Ukraine and enter the EU at its eastern border, but whom Slovak or Hungarian border authorities quickly returned without allowing them to register asylum claims or challenge their deportation to Ukraine.  The European Union's legitimate interest in controlling its external borders cannot put the lives and well-being of migrants, asylum seekers, and children at risk. The EU should suspend its readmission agreement until Ukraine demonstrates its capacity to provide a fair hearing for asylum seekers, to treat migrants humanely, and to guarantee effective protection for refugees and vulnerable individuals."--P. [4] of cover.
Notes: "This report was researched and written by Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch, and Simone Troller, Children's Rights Division senior researcher"--P. 123.

"December 2010"--P. following t.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Summary; title: Detention of migrants; title: Ukraine's dysfunctional asylum system; title: Unaccompanied children; title: Refoulement; title: Recommendations; title: To the government of Ukraine; title: To the governments of Slovakia and Hungary; title: To the European Union; title: To UNHCR; title: To the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants; title: Methodology, scope, and terminology; title: IV. Background; title: External dimension of eu asylum and migration policy; title: Readmission agreements; title: The EU-Ukraine readmission agreement; title: EU Relations with Ukraine in the spheres of migration and asylum; title: EU burden sharing through resettlement; title: V. A dysfunctional asylum system.; title: Access to asylum : the failure of the SBGS to forward asylum applications or to inform detainees of the asylum procedure; title: Asylum interviews; title: Legal gaps in asylum standards; title: Unaccompanied children seeking asylum; title: Corruption in the asylum process; title: Extradition and Ukraine's nonrefoulement obligations; title: VI. Torture and ill-treatment of migrants in state custody.; title: Abuses upon apprehension; title: Torture during interrogations; title: VII. Detention of migrants and asylum seekers.; title: Legal authority for detention; title: Inadequate legal representation ; lack of effective remedies to challenge detention; title: Paying for detention and transfers : sanctioned (and unsanctioned) corruption; title: Detention of unaccompanied children; title: Lack of gender sensitivity and cultural respect; title: Preparations for visitors : clean up and concealment; title: Conditions of detention and treatment in detention; title: Specially equipped premises; title: Temporary holding facilities; title: Migrant accommodation centers; title: International standards on conditions of detention; title: VIII. Protection, education, and housing for unaccompanied migrant children; title: Age assessment; title: Access to education and housing; title: Housing for asylum seeking children; title: Housing for children deprived of family care; title: Single adult males in centers for families and unaccompanied children; title: Access to education; title: Trafficked children; title: IX. Readmissions from neighboring EU countries.; title: Slovakia; title: Hungary; title: Hungary and Slovakia's international legal obligations governing the returns of migrants and asylum seekers and the right to seek asylum; title: Acknowledgements.