Approach to  Migration in Europe and V4 Countries
Session 1
25. 9. 2019
Anna Láníčková

Introduction
Key terms
Figures
History
Legal instruments







Introduction – KEY TERMS
•International protection: ASYLUM, SUBSIDIARY PROTECTION
•legal migration
•Visas, permits
•EU citizenship – free movement of persons (EU citizens and family members)

Key terms - cont.



Key terms – cont.
•Non-refoulement
•No State shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of
territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
•Internally Displaced Person
•Stateless person – not considered to be a national by any state

Sovereignty of the State
•Right to check the regularity of entry (visa, permits)
•Prohibition to expell its own citizens, obligation to accept its own citizens, not foreigners
•BUT international obligations (IP), EU law
•No obligation to let a foreigner to enter – but! Non-refoulement!
•Obligation to let him ask for IP (but Dublin regulation in EU)
•Right to asylum – right to fair proceedings

International protection in the Czech Republic
 - claims (1990-2018)
2017
2018
1450
1702




IP claims – nationalities 2016!
https://www.mvcr.cz/mezinarodni-ochrana.aspx


A bit of history :
•After the IWW. Almost 1 mil Russians outside of their country, citizenship revoked.
•Nansen passport=stateless people passport. (16 coutnries, incl. Czechoslovakia, then 52 countries)
•Famous holders: S. Rachmaninoff,M. Chagall, V. Nabokov, I. Stravinsky
•Czechoslovkia accepted 25000 of Russian refugees, health care, funding for students, employment,
food, housing
•1933 broadened – Armenian, Turkish refugees. 1933 Convention relating to the international status
of refugees.

History – cont.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•Diverse conventions
•Convnention concerning the status of refugees coming from Germany 1938,
•Convnention concerning the status of refugees coming from Austria 1939,
•Unification  - 1951 Refugee Convention (+1967)
•Originally just for the incidents before 1951 and in Europe. After 1967 this limitations were
removed.




History – contin.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•Czech citizenship revoqued by the regime (ex. Milan Kundera)
•Migration in the 90s from Balcan states
•Accession to EU
•Czech republic = transit country
•Czech Detention Center – worse than a prison?
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNamlcoWw_I

Legal Instruments - International Protection
Interactive map: https://is.muni.cz/do/law/kat/kupp/hrim/index.html
•International Law
•Refugee Convention 1951
•EU law – Common European Asylum System
•(+ Returns, Frontex)
European Court of Human Rights
+
Court of Justice of the European Union

EU law



Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)
•Outside of the country of his nationality
•Well-founded fear
•Persecution
•Race, religion,nationality, membership of a particular social group, political opinion
•Unable/unwilling to avail himself the protection (State actors, non-state actors)

No protection to:
•The provisions of this Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are
serious reasons for considering that:
•(a) He has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined
in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes;
•(b) He has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to his
admission to that country as a refugee;
•(c) He has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Refugees´rights
•Non-refoulement
•Refugee convention deals with the rights – access to employment, housing, public education, social
security, freedom of movement, travel documents – usually in regards to the rights of citien – same
level, lesser level
•Czech law – permanent residency, language course, employment, health care
•The proceedings finished? Status granted (asylum, subsidiary protection) or expulsion

Subsidiary protection
– protection for those who do not qualify as refugees
•third country national or stateless who would face a real risk of suffering serious harm if s/he
return to the country of origin.Serious harm is defined as the risk of:
•"(a) death penalty or execution; or
•(b) torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of an applicant in the country of
origin; or
•(c) serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reasons of indiscriminate
violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict."

Thank you for your attention!
Anna Láníčková
anna.lanickova@seznam.cz
Pop culture reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJEjrNB2iTA
Asylum claim in Handmaid´s Tale (TV series, 3.season) – no pushback!
Interesting literary works:
Martin Pollack – The Emperor of America
Patrick Kingsley – The New Odyssey