Відповіді

• 2002.08.15 | Andriyko

  English Version

  Meeting the requests of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, the Department of Nationalities and Migration of the City of Kyiv denied three Belarussian refugees of political asylum today, which should be considered as a declation of Mr Kuchma's regime true intentions to enter into Europe.
  
  The grounds of denial are purely formal as follows: the Belarussians have missed the three-days period set forth by the Law of Ukraine «On Refugees» and their reasons for this were found insufficient (the Law provides for the prolongation of this period for «sufficient reasons» without any notice of what this grounds should be).
  
  In his denial, Mr V. Horovyi, the Deputy Chairman of the Department has almost quoted the note of the Belarussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the latter claimed for illegal tresspass of the Ukrainian-Belarussian state frontier by Vladzimir Bukhanov, Sviatoslav Shapovalov and Siargei Korniev, though the refugees crossed it not through some forest paths but following the railway line where the frontier guard posts must have been allocated and where, taking into account visa-free regime between the two countries, they have never been stopped for any inspection.
  
  The Kyivan civil servant stated that the Belarussians consulted the Department of the UN Highest Commissioner on Refugees on July, 23th on the procedure of granting political asylum [in Ukraine] (though in fact they were advise on July, 25th) but applied to the Department of Nationalities and Migration on August, 9th only. Unfortunately, he has «forgotten» that his own Department had already denied them to accept their applications first claiming that there were no photoes attached by the youths who just had no money to get them. It happenned only on August, 9th that Mr Novik, the Chairman of the Department agreed to accept the applications under the option that they serve their photoes before the date of the decision.
  
  It is noteworthy that the Convention on Status of Refugees, to which Ukraine accessed, does not estalish for the strict time periods for the application stating only that the refugee should apply to the authorities «without delay». The Convention does not treat illegal trespass of the state frontier as a ground of political asylum denial.
  
  But who cares about international Conventions in the state which violates the rights of its own citizens almost every day? Furthermore, Belarus is one of that little number of countries where Leonid Kuchma is still a desirable guest, though whole civilised world has not been spreading hand to the dictator Lukashenko for a long time.
  
  The denial by the the Department of Nationalities and Migration of the City of Kyiv to grant Belarussian refugees political asylum caused indignation between the Department of the UN Highest Commisioner's officers. They stayed in the office for extra time and assisted the Belarussians to draft an appeal that the refugees are going to file with State Committee on Nationalities and Migration of Ukraine tomorrow.
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  • 2002.08.15 | Майдан-Інформ

    Дуже дякуємо. Як завжди! (-)

• 2002.08.16 | Георгій Пінчук

  Re: І ще прохання про допомогу - переклад тексту

  Today, the Department of Nationalities and Migration of the municipality of Kyiv has rejected applications for political asylum that had been submitted by three Belarussian refugees. This was done on the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, and became a litmus paper showing how "real" is the the Kuchma regime's declared desire to "merge with Europe."
  
  The motives for the rejection are strictly formal. The three citizens of Belarus have violated the three day term for application, as stated by the Refugee Law, for reasons that have been deemed insignificant. (The Law allows extension of the term if there are significant reasons for doing so; however, it does not detail, which reasons are significant and which are not.)
  
  In his rejection statement, Mr. V. Horovyj, who is the Deputy Head of the Department, all but quoted the note from the Belarussian MFA. The note says that Mr. Volodymyr Bukhanov, Mr. Svyatoslav Shapovalov, and Mr. Serhiy Kornyejev crossed the Ukrainian-Belarussian border illegally. In fact, the refugees never used forest paths, but have been moving openly, along railroad tracks. They must have passed several border patrol stations; however, since there is no official procedure of issuing visas at the Ukrainian-Belarussian border, these people were not stopped.
  
  The Kyiv official stated that the Belarussians were consulted by a representative of the UN Supreme Commissar in the affairs of refugees on July 23. In fact, this was done on July 25. He also said that they had applied to the Department of Nationalities and Migration on August 9; however, the official conveniently forgot that that the above-mentioned citizens had applied much earlier but had been ignored. Their applications lacked photographs, which were too costly for the young applicants to get. The date August 9 was, therefore, not the day of the refugees' application, but the day when the Department Head, Mr. V. Novik, finally agreed to accept their application on the condition that they would bring their photographs by the day when the processing of their applications would be complete.
  
  It should be mentioned that the Convention on the status of refugees, which has been signed by Ukraine, does not set any limits on the term of the refugees' application; the document only says that applicants must submit their documents to the local authorities "without delay." Also, the Convention does not view illegal crossing of borders as reason for rejecting a refugee's application.
  
  Yet, how can we seriously talk about adherence to international conventions in a country where rights of its own citizens are violated almost daily? One should also bear in mind that Belarus is one of those few countries where Leonid Kuchma still is welcome, while no representative of a civilized country would shake hands with the Belarusian dictator Lukashenka.
  
  The rejection of applications for political asylum submitted by three Belarussian refugees by the Department of Nationalities and Migration of the municipality of Kyiv was met with dismay at the office of the UN Supreme Comissar in the affairs of refugees. The staff of the Comissar's office even chose to stay after hours in order to help the three refugees to write a note of appeal. This will be submitted to the Department of Nationalities and Migration of Ukraine tomorrow.
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  • 2002.08.16 | Майдан-Інформ

    І вам дякуємо! (-)

  • 2002.08.16 | Andriyko

    Comments

    Перепрошую, але цей переклад хоча, можливо, дещо кращий за стилістикою, проте абсолютно невірний за термінологією. Існують усталені форми, в яких вживаються певні найменування тощо. Наприклад, Верховний комісар ООН у справах біженців то аж ніяк не Supreme Comissar.
    згорнути/розгорнути гілку відповідей

    • 2002.08.16 | Майдан-Інформ

      Ми ваш варіант послали, бо він був перший. (-)