Delegatie Europees Parlement wil verbetering opvangcentra asielzoekers (en)

A delegation of members of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee is in Poland from 1 to 4 April, where it is visiting two closed centres for immigrants and asylum seekers. MEPs believe that, while more should be done to ensure detainees have acceptable living conditions and get legal aid, Poland rates well compared to other EU states.

MEPs visited the centres in Lesznowola et Biala Podlaska as part of a series of visits to closed centres for immigrants and asylum seekers in different EU countries.

"Poland rates well"

Following the visits to the centres, Patrick Gaubert (EPP-ED, FR), head of the delegation, said "the authorities' willingness to cooperate and reply to all our questions, even technical and ethical ones, reassured us". However, he pointed to a number of weaknesses in the management of the centres, such as the difficulty for asylum seekers to access legal aid and the fact that immigrants classified as being under a "tolerated stay" regime receive no financial aid or access to integration programmes.

Rapporteur Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler (PES, DE) said that "for the first time during such a visit, a television crew has been allowed inside a camp".  He added "we are satisfied with what we have seen and heard this morning, compared to other countries. As far as living conditions for detainees are concerned, Poland rates well", he said.

Another positive point, according to Mr Kreissl-Dörfler, is that the Polish authorities are examining case-by-case the situation of the many refugees who claim to be from Chechnya, so as not to expel them if they are likely to be in danger on their return to the Caucasus.

Tough conditions at Lesznowola

The centre at Lesznowola, visited on Tuesday 1 April, is regarded by local NGOs as particularly tough. "Conditions are really bad, they're six to a room", said Martine Roure (PES, FR), who nevertheless added that she "had seen worse" on visits to other countries.  She also pointed to efforts by the Polish authorities to improve the conditions of detainees by transferring them to newer centres such as the one at Biala Podlaska opened in 2008.

According to the Polish state secretary for migration and asylum, Piotr Stacha?czyk, a total of 250 people are in this closed centre (all awaiting deportation, since the courts have rejected their asylum applications), as against 5468 in open centres where they can enter and leave freely.

The aim of these EP missions is to check whether Community standards are being applied in the Member States.  MEPs also had a meeting with Frontex officials on Thursday 3 April.

Having visited detention centres in Italy, Spain, France, Malta, Greece, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and now Poland, MEPs will go to Denmark on 10 April and Cyprus in May.

01/04/2008

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

In the chair : Gérard Deprez (ALDE, BE)