On Tuesday next week, at a session of the Government, the draft amendments to the Law on asylum and temporary protection, which should facilitate the transit of immigrants across the country, will be reviewed.
Amendments to the Law, which was proposed by the Ministry of Interior (MOI), were prepared and placed into procedure at the beginning of May, but after a month and a half, they have not yet been passed by the Assembly.
At today’s meeting with the Ombudsman Idzhet Memeti, Minister of Interior Mitko Chavkov informed the Ombudsman that the law is in a governmental procedure.
At a press conference in connection with adoption of the law, Memeti stated that Minister Chavkov said he would request the amendments to the law to be adopted in a shortened procedure.
NGOs which actively follow this issue say that legislative amendments are in order, but they react to the procedure, which, according to them, develops very slowly, and in the meantime, the situation with immigrants, who currently have a status of illegals, is becoming serious because of their mass number and the agony they experience while passing through the country.
– According to what we have as information, the amendments are in order and we support them, because, in a sense, we ourselves were the initiators to adopt such a regulation. We react to the adoption procedure, which has a very slow pace. If the law is passed on Tuesday by the Government, then the procedure goes to parliamentary committee, led by MP Antonio Miloshoski. We appeal the process to be accelerated, especially because summer holidays for MPs are nearing and if it is not completed by then, the consequences would be enormous – stated Jasmin Rexhepi of NGO “Legis” for META.
The application of the amendments also requires certain technical solutions, i.e. adopting bylaws for forms which the immigrants will fill on the border when entering the country, which, according to the draft law, the Interior Minister has six months to prepare, after the law is passed in the Assembly.
In addition, translators will also be required, because many of the immigrants who come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and African countries do not know speak English.
