MINSK, 25 July (BelTA) - The inflow of refugees from Ukraine to Belarus decreased in 2016, Alexei Begun, the head of the Citizenship and Migration Department at the Interior Ministry of Belarus, told media, BelTA has learned.
“In general, the inflow of refugees has been down almost twofold as against the same period last year. We saw a three-time decrease in the inflow of refugees from Ukraine who come to Belarus and apply for a refugee status, subsidiary protection, a temporary or permanent residence permit. The number of Ukrainian citizens who apply for citizenship of Belarus has remained at the level of last year,” Alexei Begun said.
As of 1 July 2016, 351 people applied to the citizenship and migration department for a refugee status. The figure, as was already noted, has fallen two times over the first half of 2015. 80% of the applicants are Ukrainian citizens. Among the applicants there are also citizens of Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Egypt and some other states from that region. “Virtually all the applicants are citizens of the countries with active military operations,” he said.
Alexei Begun added that in 2015 a total of 22,424 citizens of Ukraine came in view of the citizenship and migration bodies. They have decided to legalize, in one way or another, their stay in Belarus. Some of them have obtained a refugee status, some permanent residence permit, and so on.
Currently around 1,400 citizens of Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan have been granted subsidiary protection in Belarus and 928 foreign citizens - refugee status.
Alexei Begun noted that the President of Belarus signed into law “Amendments and additions to some laws of the Republic of Belarus on forced migration”. In particular, Belarus will enforce a single procedure of acceptance and consideration of applications for refugee status, subsidiary protection and asylum. The period of consideration of such applications shall not exceed six months. Today it may take one year or even longer.
In accordance with the law, border agencies shall be authorized to accept applications for refugee status, subsidiary protection or asylum in Belarus from foreigners who cross the Belarusian state border and who do not have valid documents for entry into Belarus.
Alexei Begun added that the legislation has been amended in accordance with international law. In general, the amendments aim to ensure that foreigners do not abuse the possibility to obtain refugee status or other similar rights. He explained that the law introduces a set of legislative provisions that are necessary in case of mass arrival of refugees. “We formalized the work we did within the framework of the normative-legal acts of the Interior Ministry and other bodies concerned in 2014-2015 as we were dealing with the mass arrival of citizens of Ukraine,” Alexei Begun said.
