Some Ukrainian and foreign Media distributed the news about several dozens Crimean Tatars who asked for political refuge in Poland in late March. A polish human rights officer, however, has another information and says that about 50 people from Crimea came to Poland, and only 20 of them are Crimean Tatars.
Most of them are activists of Muslim religious communities. “They feared for their safety and safety of their families. They are pious people and would have been persecuted in Russia,” — Mr. Lenur Kerimov, a Polish Human Rights Officer of Crimean Tatar origin, says.
At the same time the lawyers note that getting a political refuge in Poland is a complicated procedure and not every refugee can expect positive answer from the migration services.
People seeking refuge are allocated at special temporary centres and get about 180 Euros per month from the State. However, the larger the family is, the smaller is this sum per each family member. At the same time, the applicants don’t have right to leave the country while their case is investigated. The refugee must prove that there was a real threat for his life, and not everyone can do that.
According to Mr, Jacek Balias, a lawyer from Helsinki Human Rights Fund, most applications for refuge in Poland can’t get a positive decision. A possibility of so-called internal migration is very important in the situation of Crimean refugees. “If a person can move to a safer region within Ukraine, it can be a reason for declining the application for a refugee status in Poland,” — the specialist says.
The situation of the Crimean refugees, however, has already drawn attention of both Ukrainian and Tatar communities of Poland. Aboriginal Polish Tatars propose people resettled from Crimea to come to Białystok Voivodeship where ple places of Tatar compact settlement are situated and where there are many acting mosques.
Mr. Dilyaver Saidahmetov
