Canada has imposed a visa duty on the Czech Republic in reaction to an increasing number of asylum applications filed by Czech citizens – most of whom were Roma. In an interview with Respekt, Deputy Minister for Human Rights, Czeslaw Walek, comments on why Czech Roma leave for Canada.
Since the visas were lifted in the middle of 2007, three thousand Czechs have applied for asylum in Canada. Why?
I would divide the reasons in three groups. First – economic reasons: permeability of the Canadian asylum system including the possibility to receive social benefits. Then it is a long-term discrimination at the local level, such as the illegal seizure of social allowances in Chomutov. It culminated into increased activities of the far right that the Roma are experiencing in our country. We have recorded an increase in applications for Canadian asylum from dozens to hundreds since November of last year, that means, since the pogrom attempt in Janov. Then we can see more frequent marches and gatherings of extremist groups in Czech towns. Here, there is a direct link to Roma departures to Canada.
Roman Krištof, former head of the office of the government council for Roma affairs, said that behind the Roma emigration to Canada was clear and organised business. He said this based on a report that he worked out in Canada.
There was a discussion on that already when former human rights and minorities minister Džamila Stehlíková was in office. Nevertheless, the information that we have is that there are no organised departures to Canada. Minister Kocáb discussed it with his colleagues at the ministry, and they could not confirm it either. I cannot comment on Mr Krištof’s statements because I have not read the alleged research. I do not either know who had ordered it. It seems strange to me that he discloses information from a research without saying what kind of research it was and for whom he carried it out. We contacted the Interior Ministry informally and asked whether it was them who ordered the research, but they denied it.
Are you going to do you own research directly in Canada then?
At the moment, Minister Kocáb is planning a trip to Canada along with Ministers Kohout and Pecina. There is still a debate on the shape of their journey. However, the focus of Minister Kocáb’s agenda is rather on a change to the internal policy and fight against social exclusion. Presented to the government next week will be first results of an agency fighting against social exclusion, and they are not bad at all…
So no research is planned?
We have not discussed it yet, we do not have financial resources allocated for the purpose either. We will present the government with a series of proposals including a bill on an agency for the eliminating of social exclusion and a strategy for a fight against social exclusion, which deal with the fundamental reasons behind Roma departures to Canada.
One of the last steps taken by former minister Stehlíková was an agreement with the Canadian side on non-implementing of visas despite the growing number of asylum seekers. In exchange for a pledge that this number will be cut down. What has been done since to reduce emigration?
One of the fundamental changes is the introduction of the anti-discrimination law, which enables the Roma minority to defend better and more clearly against discriminatory behaviour. At the government level, we are finalising a strategy for a fight against social exclusion, which should focus in particular on specific help to individuals from socially excluded localities. Last but not least, it is a problem of far-right extremism, where the Minister for Human Rights initiated an agreement with constitutional authorities across the political spectrum on a joint action in overcoming the increasing extremism, and together with field experts he analyses the individual far-right steps and the action against these steps.
Almost every government comes up with plans to solve social exclusion. What is your guarantee that the next minister does not throw out your long-term concept? How to secure continuity in solving the Roma problem?
We of course cannot guarantee that. Nevertheless, social exclusion is a burning problem that concerns especially the local level. Without cooperation with mayors, no government will be able to adopt and implement an efficient strategy. Also the agency concept is based on close cooperation with local partners. Unfortunately, some local politicians adopt radical repressive measures that bring no solution. That is why we cooperate with the best Czech experts when working on the strategy, we will consult its proposals with the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic and with the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic and with individual ministries. This is where I see a chance for its implementation across the political spectrum.
What are you going to do about the problem of economic motivation of asylum seekers?
People have a natural desire to leave for a better life. And Canada offers these possibilities – a better job, education, a multi-cultural society. People, who do not do well in our country because of deeply rooted prejudices, then leave. What is a bigger problem is when the Roma middle class leaves, who lives in much better conditions. Here we have to analyse better the reasons behind the departure in order to find out what we can do to prevent them.
