Annual Report: International Protection in the Czech Republic in 2009
Main trends, number of seekers, proceedings and European cooperation
Proceedings of International Protection
In 2009, the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic issued a total of 1,030 decisions in proceedings of international protection. In 103 cases, international protection was granted in the form of asylum or subsidiary protection.
Asylum was granted in a total of 75 cases, the most common reasons being defined by the Geneva Convention. (28).
The highest number of positive decisions on asylum went toward the nationals of Myanmar (21) who had relocated to the Czech Republic and asylum was granted due to political grounds (see chapter 5). Asylum was further granted to 9 nationals of Ukraine (the majority for humanitarian reasons) and 8 nationals of Vietnam (either due to family reunification or humanitarian reasons). In 7 cases, asylum was granted to nationals of Afghanistan (due to the threat of persecution) and of Kazakhstan (for family reunification reasons).
Subsidiary protection was granted in a total of 28 cases. This form of protection was most commonly granted to nationals of Russia (7), Iraq (7) and Cuba (5). There were 139 cases where subsidiary protection was renewed. Most often this concerned nationals of Iraq (41), Belarus (32) and Cuba (26).
In 2009, there were a total of 387 lawsuits filed with regional courts against decisions taken by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. Every other applicant (49.2 %) appealed against the decision of the Ministry, which is less than in previous years, when about 60 – 70 % of seekers appealed against the decision in their cases.
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During the process of taking a decision on international protection, the relevant body also uses case-law of administrative courts related to international protection.
Regional courts issued a total of 766 decisions. In 440 cases (57.4 %), they confirmed the previous decisions of the Ministry of the Interior (lawsuit was dismissed). In 170 cases (22.2 %), the proceedings were discontinued. In 118 cases (15.4 %), the file was returned to the DAMP for reassessment.
396 cassation complaints were filed with the Supreme Administrative Court in Brno. The Supreme Administrative Court issued a total of 644 decisions. In the majority of the cases (74.4 %), the cassation complaint was rejected or dismissed (33) confirming the previous verdicts of regional courts. In another 87 cases (13.5 %), the matter was returned to the regional courts for a new hearing. In 78 cases (12.1 %), proceedings were discontinued.
In 2009, the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic filed cassation complaints with the Supreme Administrative Court in 28 cases.