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The change of the situation in Kosovo resulted in a lower number of fugitives caught at the borders of the Czech Republic, however the number of fugitives from other parts of Europe and from Asia increased. The reduction of illegal migration to the Czech Republic in 1999 is relative. The asylum procedure has continued to be used for illegal migration. The large numbers of foreigners do not legalise their residence in the Czech Republic. The number of foreigners prosecuted in the Czech Republic increased with the exception of the citizens of the Slovak Republic.54)
The term “illegal migration” covers the cases of illegal arrival in the territory of a certain country for different reasons. There are the cases of unauthorised ways of leaving the country, but also the cases concerning illegal residence in the territory of a country. In other words, a foreigner enters our country legally but he/she does not leave the country within a certain period stipulated by a law, and resides in our country without a permit, i.e. illegally. Such a foreigner violates the terms and conditions of the Immigration Law. Currently there is no doubt that illegal migration is connected with international crime, illegally arranged transfers across borders and trade in people. Illegal arrival and residence of foreigners is mostly planned and carried out by internationally organised groups. Accommodation and transit of “smuggled” people is arranged from the country of origin to the target country. Abuse of asylum procedures increased both in the transit and target countries. Abuse of asylum procedures in 1999 led to a growth in applicants for the status of a refugee in the Czech Republic.
32,325 persons (-12,347, -27.6 %) were apprehended while illegally crossing the national borders, of which 30,377 (-12,580, -29.3 %) were foreigners.56) If we exempt the citizens of Yugoslavia recorded in individual years - there were “only” 2,778 of them (-3,274, -82.7 %) - of the total number of persons who tried to cross the border illegally from 1993 to 1999, we will see that the number of illegal attempts to cross the national border increased in 1999 - in comparison with 1998 - by 927 persons, i.e. by 3.2 %.
The highest percentage of persons conveyed from a single nationality was recorded were citizens of Romania, followed by citizens of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bulgaria. In terms of absolute numbers of persons conveyed - in comparison with 1998 - the citizens of Romania dominated. In the course of 1999 the immigration police caught 5,796 (+1,124, +32.6 %) persons. In terms of percentage, the highest increase in fugitives from Sri Lanka (1,992 persons, i.e. + 1,075, +117.2 %).
26,951 fugitives (i.e.83.4 %) out of 32,235 ascertained fugitives were apprehended while illegally crossing the national border from the Czech Republic. The highest number of illegal migrants are still caught at the border between the Czech Republic and Germany (20,170 persons, i.e.-12,689, -38.6 %) - 98 % in the direction to Germany. The point of entry to the Czech Republic is the same as in 1998 -the border with Slovakia. 2,737 (-1,186, -30.2 %) persons were apprehended directly at the border with Slovakia. In comparison with the situation in 1998, the number of detected fugitives at the border with Austria substantially increased. 5,146 persons (+1,666, +47.9 %) were caught, the majority of them were citizens of Romania. The rise in illegal migration was noticed also at the border with Poland (3,142 persons, +521, +20 %). The relevant bodies of the Czech Republic participated in capturing 18,867 illegal fugitives (58.4 %). The relevant bodies of other states detected 13,269 persons (41 %).
30.6 % of foreigners tried to illegally escape over the border from the Czech Republic on the day of their arrival in the Czech Republic. About 37 % of illegal fugitives tried to illegally leave the Czech Republic between the 2nd and the 5th day of their stay in the Czech Republic. About 62 % of them (19,339) were detained without any travel documents.
The illegal migration is professionally organised globally and the hopeless situation of the fugitives is often abused. 7,680 (i.e. 24 %) illegal fugitives were assisted in illegal an border crossing by another person. The Czech citizens prevailed among 1,310 (+235, +21.9 %) persons who helped cross the borders illegally.
Assisted illegal migration currently involves also highly professional forging and altering of travel documents for fugitives. 1,153 (-464, 28.7 %) persons were detained with such documents. Despite the decline in absolute figures, the percentage of people detained with a forged travel document did not change in 1999 in comparison with 1998, i.e. 3.6 %.
In comparison with 1998, the share of repeated attempts to cross the border illegally declined from 16.8 % to 12.2 %. 3,936 (-3,564, -47.5 %) persons repeated their attempt to cross the national border in 1999.
The current direction of illegal migration as well as the above stated statistical data confirm that the Czech Republic remains to be largely a transit country for fugitives on route to Western Europe.
221 persons were lawfully sentenced for illegally crossing the state border in accordance with Sec. 171(a) of the Criminal Code.
The issues relating to the illegal migration are as follows:
Abuse of asylum procedure; The growth in the number of applicants for asylum was exceeded by the number of applicants who maliciously abandoned the refugee camps (hereinafter “RC”). In 1997, only 861 escapes were recorded. In 1998, there were 1,915 escapes while in 1999, 7,786 malicious escapes from the RCs were detected, which is 306.6 % more than in the previous year. 698 applicants abandoned a camp repeatedly. The number of those who applied for the status of a refugee in the Czech Republic increased. Among them there were the fugitives who were caught while trying to cross the state border from the Czech Republic. In 1999, there were 3,204 such applicants. (+2,714, +553.9 %). The citizenship of the detained people corresponds to the citizenship of the people who most frequently apply for asylum and who tried to escape from camps.
Illegal employment of foreigners. In the course of 1999 there was a persistent decline in the number of legally employed foreigners (e.g. in January 45,288 persons, in June 44,073 persons, and in December 40,312 persons). This development was especially caused by the situation in the labour market.57) The amended Trades Licensing Act (came into force on 1st March 2000) makes the conditions for foreign entrepreneurs - individuals in the Czech Republic more difficult. It is in compliance with the terms and conditions of international agreements, which do not permit selective or stricter conditions for the business activities of foreigners over the limits which apply to Czech citizens. The stricter conditions however, represent only a partial solution. The establishment of ordinary partnership companies and other types of corporations especially but not exclusively by foreigners - individuals still remain a principal issue. It is almost impossible to monitor their further “business activities”.58)
The EU countries provide information on the increasing numbers of foreigners whose residence in a certain country is not legal. This phenomenon can be detected also in the Czech Republic. This is confirmed by the data relating to foreigners who were administratively banished or they are prohibited to stay in the Czech Republic.
The data relating to the foreigners who illegally reside in the Czech Republic are not available at the moment. The illegal residency of the foreigners in the Czech Republic is identified only indirectly by analyses of the data relating to the foreigners who have been banned to stay in the Czech Republic since they breached the residency rules, and the foreigners banished administratively from the country due to illegal stay.
Until 1998 the number of foreigners who were forbidden to stay in the Czech Republic had been increasing. In the course of 1999 bans on residence were pronounced for 14,539 (-7,394, -33.7 %) foreigners. A marked decline in the number of foreigners who are not permitted to stay in the Czech Republic relates to the decision of the Constitutional Court No. 159/1998 Coll., from 13th May 1999, by which the option to ban the stay of foreigners due to the breach of a legal obligation (Sec. 14 par. 1 (f) of Act No. 123/1992 Coll., on Residency of Foreigners) or because of violation of any other legally binding regulation was cancelled. The decline was also caused by the fact, that foreigners did not use the accommodation in public accommodation facilities but they found private accommodation, which the immigration police is not authorised to check.
The predominant reason to ban a foreigner to stay in the Czech Republic is a breach of residency rules (57.8 %) and illegal border crossing (22 %).
Administrative and judicial deportation affected 2,985 foreigners (+739, +32.9 %) 1,891 (+372, +24.5 %) of them were banished for unauthorised residency. On the basis of the courts sentences 1,094 (+367, +50.5 %) foreigners were banished after they had been lawfully sentenced for crime commitment.
The Information on the Situation of Migration in the Czech Republic, which is regularly submitted to the Government, describes the migration issues in full detail (including implementation of readmission agreements and pilot operations of the project “Visa Process Updating”).
2. Crime, Development in Individual Kinds of Crime and Security Risks