Prague, Nov 2 (CTK) – Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec will visit the detention facility for refugees in Bela-Jezova, central Bohemia, with the ambassadors of European countries who requested such a visit on Thursday, November 5.
Chovanec said Labour Minister Michaela Marksova, who is in charge of children´s protection, will join the visit, too.
In September, Ombudsman Anna Sabatova criticised the conditions in Bela-Jezova. She said the refugees lived in worse conditions than Czech prisoners and that the children were scared by the omnipresent security guards and policemen. Consequently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights rebuked the Czech Republic for its attitude to refugees.
Chovanec admitted some shortcomings, but he rejected most of the criticism. He negotiated with Sabatova about the situation.
“We must discuss what is the standard and what is above the standard. We believe that we meet the standard of the 21st century,” Chovanec said.
He said the conditions for refugees, coming to Europe from the Middle East and heading mostly for Germany, were improving.
Last week, the right-wing opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the staff of the Bela-Jezova centre rejected the criticism.
