Prague, May 13 (CTK) – A total of 88 Syrian refugees will come within a resettlement mechanism from Turkey to the Czech Republic by the end of this summer, daily Pravo writes on Friday, quoting from an Interior Ministry report for the government.
Within the resettlement programme, the Czech Republic will receive almost 400 refugees by June 2017, Pravo writes.
The Czech Republic has already asked the U.N. High Commission for Refugees to start the resettlement project and it has announced it will receive the first 88 Syrians from Turkey within four months, it adds.
However, it is unclear what the result will be because the first experiences with the acceptation of refugees have revealed that their interest in moving to the Czech Republic is very small, Pravo writes.
This was shown by the example of the Iraqis who either returned home or left for Germany after they had come to the Czech Republic. The government then decided to end the project, it adds.
Illegal migrants, too, avoid the Czech Republic. The police have only detained 3,481 of them since last June, while 24,094 refugees sailed to Italy alone since the beginning of this year.
The regular report on migration, drafted by the Interior Ministry, says “a strong migration wave is still avoiding the Czech Republic and only individuals or small groups have been captured.”
In the second half of April, 39 illegal migrants were detained. Of them, 27 were from Afghanistan, eight from Ukraine, three from Pakistan and one from Palestine.
During the same time, only 66 persons asked Czech authorities for asylum. There were 17 Ukrainians, eight Vietnamese, eight Russians and seven Armenians, Pravo writes.
At the end of April, refugee facilities provided shelter for 120 people, primarily from Ukraine (39), Afghanistan (32), Iraq (17) and Pakistan (5), it adds.
“The Czech Republic has declared its preparedness to take part in the resettlement of Syrian refugees from Turkey on the basis of its voluntary commitment from June 20, 2015,” the report said.
“It has also done so within its proportion in the so far undivided relocation reserve, which is roughly 1,301 persons,” it added.
However, the Czech Republic insists on “the new mechanism not being applied in such a way that would bring about new obligations in the sphere of relocation for the Czech Republic,” the report said.
The Czech Republic is also one of the most active countries in the sphere of “hotspots,” the refugees centers in Italy and Greece.
The Czech Republic has offered 45 Interior Ministry experts for the purpose. At present, five of them are working in the Greek hotspots and others are preparing themselves for departure, the report said.
