In the future, those hoping for international protection in Estonia and illegal entrants to be expelled from the country will be pooled together.
Refugees directed to Tallinn Prison territory
13th May 2013, 11:53
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Last week, the Constitutional Committee of Riigikogu was rocked by the so-called refugee draft (Act on Granting International Protection to Aliens), the main aim of which is to merge reception centre with expulsion centre, calling the result a custodian institution.
Currently, Illuka at Ida-Viru County hosts a separate reception centre for refugees, Harku at Harju County having a separate expulsion centre for persons staying in the country illegally or other criminals deprived of residence permit, waiting to be sent out of the country. Now, the plan is to combine these two things and place it on the territory of Tallinn Prison.
«I cannot imagine what this will look like in practice – especially considering the case, a few weeks back, of a lady selling drugs on a children’s playground. She was deprived of residence permit and she will be expelled. Drug offenders of this sort will, in the future, be put together with people needing international protection?» wondered Riigikogu member Jevgeni Ossinovski (Social Democrats).
«Even the putting of them together is questionable; but it is a scandal to place them on the territory of a prison,» said the politician, who is not a member of the Constitutional Committee dealing with the draft, but has participated in the discussions out of personal interest.
Mart Nutt (IRL), the person responsible for the draft, soon to be sent to second reading, stressed the refugees would not be sent to prison, rather into a building located on Tallinn Prison territory, surrounded by suitable fences. «It is prudent and frugal to use the means available,» he stated.
Mr Ossinovski replied that those applying for asylum may indeed have a separate building with a separate entrance, on the territory of the prison, but it would still send a signal of them being criminals – this being the prejudice of a large percentage of the population. «Thereby, this will surely be a popular move; however, clearly indicated how post-Soviet we are in this matter,» thinks he.
Last week in Riigikogu, Mr Ossinovski inquired about this matter from Minister of Defence Urmas Reinsalu (IRL), performing the duties of prime minister.
The social democrat stated that as a large percentage of people acquiring refugee status in Estonia are not granted services prescribed by law, many international duties are not fulfilled by our state towards refugees.
«In this context, it is surprising that instead of dealing with the root of the problem, the Riigikogu is handed a governmental draft merging reception centre with expulsion centre i.e. putting persons persecuted in their homelands together with people to be expelled – offenders, even criminals,» said Mr Ossinovski.
«To send a clear signal about our attitude towards refugees, the new centre is created at Tallinn Prison. I am asking: is this the Estonian Way propagated by IRL? Placing people in need of international protection in Tallinn Prison?» he asked of Mr Reinsalu.
Mr Reinsalu categorically refuted the claim that Estonia does not fulfil its duties. He stated that each case will be treated based on general humanistic principles, pursuant to norms of international law.
«The government definitely has no intention to send applicants of asylum to prison. On the contrary, I think these proposals partially come from the need of efficiency, to use our resources so that we would be able to meet the conditions laid on us, when it comes to these people,» said the defence minister.
Mr Reinsalu added that as the amount of people desiring asylum has, over the past years, sharply increased, a frugal approach is needed.
This year, the Eastern-Southern border between Estonia and Russia has been illegally crossed by 33 Vietnamese, two Syrians, one Chinese and one Armenian. In addition to these, five Pakistani citizens were caught in the same area on April 20th, the precise border crossing point of whom is still unclear.