Hunger Strikes
in Guarded Centers
laska, are regularly visited by the HNLAC. Also the Guarded Centre in Białystok is regularly vis- ited by a lawyer from Caritas (HNLAC does not visit this facility). Detainees were also informed of the dates of the next visits in their facilities. The HNLAC’s lawyers visited the Guarded Cen- ter in Lesznowola, Biała Podlaska and Przemysl. During their visits, the HNLAC’s lawyers met with detainees placed in the detention centers and enquired about the reasons and causes of the strike and the strikers’ demands. According to the information gathered by the HNLAC’s law- yers, the people on strike where embittered by their situation, which again (as mentioned be- fore) included the fact of being in detention in the first place (fleeing their own country in order to end up in prison-like facilities); furthermore, their complaints concerned the conditions of deten- tion and its duration. Frequently the detainees were not aware of the exact reasons of their de- tention and believed that the courts decisions on detention were arbitrary (based on the informa- tion about other asylum seekers in similar situa- tions who were not placed in detention). While talking to the asylum seekers placed in detention centers, the HNLAC’s lawyers informed them of their rights under Polish law, particularly the right to appeal detention rulings and to file motions to be released from the detention centers. They of- fered them legal help and written information on asylum procedures in Poland.
During their visit in the above mentioned deten- tion centers, the HNLAC’s lawyers met also with the camp administration officers and authorities, who turned the lawyer’s attention to the fact that the detainees should know that it is not the the case managers (border guards) who are respon-
sible for placing the asylum seekers in deten- tion - it is the court that issues the rulings. They wanted the asylum seekers to thereforerealize that the people who are in direct contact with them while they are on strike do not make the rulings on detention. The Head of the detention center in Biała Podlaska stated that the border guards even support the HNLAC initiative against detention because of the lack of the places in the detention centers in Poland arising out of the growth rate of refugee applications on the borders of persons who fall under the specific criteria for detention. In response to the detain- ees’ claims, the head of the detention center in Biała Podlaska stated that the administration of the detention center, after consultation with the Immigration Office, had adapted its procedures in order to reduce the length of refugee proceed- ing to a minimum. Nevertheless, the foreigners in the detention center claimed that they have to wait, sometimes even a few days to send their documentation to the lawyer. Currently the HN- LAC’s lawyers are in constant telephone contact with asylum seekers placed in detention. During the hunger strikes, asylum seekers frequently in- quired about the courts’ rulings prolonging their stay in the guarded centers and demanded the right to face the court, explain their situation and express their arguments. The HNLAC supports such detainees and also stands in court sup- porting their claims.
The HNLAC lawyers undertook activities with- in the scope of their capacity to offer legal aid and advice to asylum seekers placed in closed camps, and also spoke with detainees going on hunger strike in order to list their demands and draw attention to their reasons. The main prob- lem that the detention centers seem to be facing
is the detainees’ lack of information about their legal situation, which rirectly relates to the rea- sons for placing them in detention. Moreover, the detainees complained of not being able to state their reasons. This kind of treatment causes concerns, lack of comprehension and in conse- quence – distrust towards the authorities. The hunger strikes came to an end on 22nd of
October. A few days after that the only striking detainee in Przemysl also stopped his protest. As a result of these events, the Polish Ministry of the Interior carried out an investigation of the situation in guarded centers for asylum seekers.
The results of this investigation will be published soon. Representatives from the Helsinki Founda- tion for Human Rights and Association for Legal Intervention were allowed to take part in this in- vestigation.
Meanwhile Minister Cichocki announced that the migration detention programme in Poland will be altered. The projected changes include: children will be only placed in two specially adapted cen- ters, border guards will be additionally trained and one of the centers will be modernized. Ad- ditionally, a new law on aliens is currently being drafted.
T
he current system of guarded centers for foreigners in Poland, fashioned after the military and prison systems, combined with its external design and the internal archi- tecture of the facilities must be deemed oppres- sive, according to the report „Migration Is Not A Crime,“ published by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal Intervention in the beginning of 2013.Both organisations hold the view that such a sy- stem fosters unacceptable behaviour among the centers‘ staff (made up of border guards), which could be seen as infringing upon the dignity of non-nationals. They are, for instance, addressed by their identifications numbers or subjected to unreasonable threats of deportation.
The published report is a summary of the moni- toring conducted by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal In- tervention at the request of the Ministry of Interior following October’s protests by detainees in gu- arded centers throughout Poland. The Ministry’s audit and the NGOs‘ monitoring activities were carried out simultaneously in November 2012. Among the individuals referred to guarded cen- ters, some have remained in Poland without a valid residence permit, while others are applying for refugee status. “It must be expressly noted that foreigners are detained in guarded centers for administrative violations and they are not cri- minals”, says Karolina Rusiłowicz, a lawyer with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. The monitoring revealed no material breaches of law by border guards and, more importantly,