A new system of health care as of 1 September 2006
As of 1 September 2006, a new system of health care for asylum seekers and holders of the toleration visa (later subsidiary protection visa) has been in place. Every asylum seeker and toleration visa holder is entitled to obtain a health insurance card as Czech nationals. All asylum seekers and toleration visa holders should contact health insurance companies (we recommend Všeobecná zdravotní pojišťovna (VZP) to register themselves for the new insurance. For detailed information please contact OPU (social dept.) or see the attached information leaflet (in Czech).
OPU shared with the Ministry of Interior and the Government Council for Human Right its opinion concerning the draft proposal of the new Citizenship Act. OPU opposes first of all the principle of an absolute administrative discretion which is against the principles of the legally consistent state. The current decision-making on citizenship claims can be well described as "a lottery" . For more information please see the attached detailed comments (in Czech) or contact OPU -
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On Wendsday 12.7. OPU volunteers and asylum seekers from asylum
facility Seč (Chrudim region) prepared a culture event for senior house
in Heřmanův Městec. There were Kyrgyz and Ujgur national dances,
African traditional songs and drum playing on. Seniors dedicated a few
traditional czech songs for volunteers and everybody enjoyed
traditional caucas cuisine at the end. This event was presented
as a festive completion of a Volunteer activity program in asylum
facility Seč which was going on for more than three years.
73 European refugee organizations challenge EU’s ‘Dublin Rules’
Nongovernmental organizations helping refugees
across Europe united today to warn that the current EU asylum system is
putting lives at risk and causing unnecessary suffering to traumatised
refugee families who have fled persecution in their homelands. The NGOs
sent an open letter to the EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs
Mr. Franco Frattini to urge him to address serious shortcomings of the
common European asylum system, above all the so called Dublin
regulation. The Dublin Regulation, effective from 2003, in fact forces
asylum seekers to stay in the first EU country they reach on their
flight from persecution. As a result, countries at the external border
of the EU are unable to process effectively applications for refugee
status. Genuine refugees, for example from Chechnya or African
countries, are then returned back to countries dangerous for their
lives. For more information click on the attachments. NGOs from ECRE against the Dublin Regulation ECRE Dublin letter to Mr.Frattini
OPU in Georgia
An OPU delegation visited Georgia from 30 May to 5
June 2006. OPU representatives met governmental and non-governmental
experts in the field of migration and asylum. We also had meetings with
internally displaced persons (IDPs). At the time being, more than
250.000 IDPs lived within Georgia outside their homes. The goal of the
visit was to exchange experience with Georgian partners, initiate a
pilot course of legal and social clinics and discuss possibilities of
future foreign aid for the benefit of internally displaced persons in
Georgia.
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