Warsaw, 7 March 2006


 
The Honourable
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of the Republic of Poland

 

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louis Arbour, visited the Chechen Republic in February 2006. She admitted something which international public opinion had already known for a long time, that the people of the Chechen Republic live in appalling conditions, in constant fear and facing the daily threat of death. Chechens are regularly arrested, tortured and murdered by Russian military forces. That is why they are forced to flee. They seek refuge in Poland, which is the first country on their route to safety where they can and do apply for refugee status. The majority of them are denied that status regulated by the 1951 Geneva Convention. Why does this happen? The administrative bodies which decide on who is granted refugee status in Poland are of the opinion that Chechens are not persecuted solely because of their nationality and neither are their lives threatened nor are they subjected to torture simply because they are Chechens. Yet Chechens currently fulfill the criteria of the 1951 Geneva Convention and should be given protection by granting them refugee status. The practice of the Polish authorities of giving refugees from the Chechen Republic tolerated stay permits instead of refugee status is obviously an inadequate solution. 

With the highest regards,

 

On behalf of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights


Mr. Marek Antoni Nowicki
President of the HFHR Board


 

Information to:

Mr. Piotr Stachañczyk
Head of the Office for Repatriation and Aliens

Mr. Jaime Ruiz de Santiago
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Representative in Poland

Mr. Terry Davis
Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Mr. Franco Frattini
European Commission
Commissioner for Security, Freedom and Justice