Ukraine to combat illegal migration more effectively

The European Union will provide 3.8 million euros to assist Ukraine in combating illegal migration, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Hennadiy Moskal announced recently. “Strengthening the Sphere of Migration Management” is the name of a program that the Ukrainian government will implement with the help of the International Migration Organization (IMO). An IMO member since 2002, Ukraine has cooperated with this organization for 10 years. The total value of the project is 4.2 million euros, with some of the costs covered by the Ukrainian government. The project is slated for 18 months and envisages the creation of an “effective system of managing migration flows via Ukraine,” or more specifically — mechanisms to counter illegal migration.

This problem is especially urgent now that Ukraine is negotiating a simplified visa regime with the EU (a mandate for negotiations was approved on Nov. 7). Ukraine now shares a border with three EU member states (Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary). If Romania succeeds in joining the EU in 2007, Ukraine will have four EU neighbors. Eighty percent of all illegal migrants who use Ukraine as a “trampoline” on their way to Western European countries arrive from Russia. According to unofficial government estimates, the uniformed services detain a mere 10 to 15 percent of all illegal migrants who cross into Ukrainian territory. A program to counter illegal migration in 2001-2004 was endorsed in 2001, but was not implemented because of inadequate government funding. The 2004 budget provided only one million hryvnias for deporting illegal migrants. Because the government cannot afford to deport them, these hapless birds of passage are transferred to Ukraine’s only specialized temporary detention center in the western Ukrainian town of Pavshyno, where they await a decision on their fate in inhuman conditions. “They live there like homeless people,” Hennadiy Moskal admits. One of the project’s priorities is to build two new temporary detention centers in Volyn and Chernihiv oblasts. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2006. The government promises to create all vital conditions for detainees, including medical and legal assistance.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has realized the importance of changing the tactic of stemming illegal migration flows. Now the law enforcement services will focus on tracking down sources of illegal migration: travel firms, educational institutions, and other organizations with questionable reputations, which contribute to the influx of illegal migrants into Ukraine. “The best way to prevent illegal migration is to turn it into legal migration,” say IMO representatives. To this end counseling centers will open in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Ternopil, and Odesa to disseminate information on legal ways of finding employment abroad and the potential risks involved in migration.