Prague, Jan 7 (CTK) – The first 30 Christian refugees from Iraq will probably arrive in the Czech Republic in late January, and after a several-day admission procedure they will be accommodated in Jihlava, south Moravia, to undergo a six-month integration and language course, Martin Frydl told CTK yesterday.
Frydl is a spokesman for the Generation 21 Foundation that has initiated the refugees´ arrival and will assist, also financially, in their integration.
A total of 37 Christian families, or 153 people, are to be accepted.
“The first group of refugees will probably arrive in the Czech Republic in the last decade of January. The exact date has not been set yet. The foundation is considering both flying them in on a commercial flight or hiring a special flight for this purpose,” Frydl said.
Further groups of the selected refugees are to arrive in the following weeks, and all will undergo the same integration procedure.
They will spend several days of admission procedure in the refugee centre in Zastavka u Brna, south Moravia, and then undergo integration courses in various Czech towns, which will last six months at least.
“All costs, including accommodation, will be covered by the foundation and its partners,” Frydl said.
First of all, the refugees will have to be granted asylum and undergo security vetting.
After being granted asylum, they will be able to seek jobs or move to other places in the Czech Republic.
“Christian communities in the respective localities will assist in their acceptance and integration,” Frydl said.
The first group of refugees will be the people who mostly have the international refugee status. The group is comprised of seven families with 14 children under 15. Out of the group´s members, a half are men and a half women, Frydl said.
“We hope that we will welcome well these people, who have lost all their property, and often also their family members, and that we will help them start anew,” Jihlava Mayor Rudolf Chloupek said after the town hall session yesterday.
In the beginning, the refugees will be accommodated together in a house in Jihlava, according to Frydl. He said the foundation is ready to cover the accommodation.
Chloupek said the town will have no problem providing about six flats for this purpose.
One of the local significant employers has already offered to employ the refugees, said Jihlava Deputy Mayor Jaroslav Vymazal.
Last year, the Czech government decided that the country will accept a total of 1,500 refugees until the end of 2017.
Out of them 1,100 refugees should be taken over from the EU countries faced with a pressure of migrants, which is Italy and Greece, and another 400 from the Middle East refugee camps.
In addition, the Czech Republic should accept another 1,591 migrants based on the EU-approved quotas.
rtj/dr/hol
