Title: 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.
Subjects: Human rights, Abuse of, Emigration and immigration law, Alien detention centers, Right of Asylum, Legal status, laws, Political refugees
Places: Ukraine