CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

VĚRA HONUSKOVÁ

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

3. The temporary refuge for the people fleeing war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s offered by the Czech Republic The origins of the temporary refuge The political orientation of the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia at that time) changed 30 years ago from the East to the West. The change was peaceful, so was the separation of the Czech and Slovak Republics few years later, in 1992. 13 Unlike the period of communist regime (1948–1989) when hundreds of thousands sought protection in Western countries, there was no mass exodus of Czechs to other countries after the changes in the early 1990s. 14 The political change was soon followed by another change: the change from a border-locked country, which was a source country of refugees itself, to a country that became the place sought by migrants forced to find safety. The Czech Republic adopted a national law on refugees in 1990 and acceded to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) in 1991. 15,16 There was only a limited legislative framework for that before 1989, and only a small number of people were granted protection in the Czech Republic during the communist period. They could not seek protection as refugees as there was neither a national framework for it nor was Czechoslovakia a state party to the relevant international instruments. But the state retained a right to grant asylum (territorial or constitutional asylum) – as it is a right implicit to its sovereignty – and they could have been granted it when they sought protection from their states. The state-organized help offered to communists and their families who were leaving Greece after the end of the civil war in the late 1940s can serve as an example. Approximately 13,000 people in need were granted protection as political emigrants. 17 There were no bases for it in the legislation, only a general possibility to grant a residency permit to a foreigner was present. Asylum was defined later, in the Constitution of 1960; its definition corresponded to the Soviet ideology and was interpreted as such. 18 It meant that this type of protection 13 The new successor states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic came into existence at the beginning of 1993. 14 We see only a few larger emigration flows from the Czech Republic, in 1938 and 1939 in connection to the “Munich agreement” and to occupation by the military forces of Nazi Germany, in 1948 due to the communistic coup d’état, and in 1968 in connection to the joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact nations, followed by a Soviet occupation. For figures see e.g. DRBOHLAV, D. International Migration in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and the Outlook for East Central Europe. Czech Sociological Review , 1/1994, pp. 89-106. 15 See Communication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs No. 208/1993 Coll. Convention on the Status of Refugees signed in 1951. To be able to use the Convention in today’s reality the states need to be bound by the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees which removes the time restriction of the definition in Art. 1A of the Convention. The abbreviation Refugee Convention should thus mean Convention on the Status of Refugees and Protocol on the Status of Refugees and is used as such. 16 Act No. 498/1990 Coll., on Refugees. 17 The protection was granted basically upon a statement from the Communist party in the country of origin and international department of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. See KRYSKA, D. The right of asylum in the Charter of Fundamental rights and Freedoms in historical perspective. To pay honour to Vladimír Mikule (Právo azylu v Listině základních práv a svobod v historické perspektivě. K poctě docenta Vladimíra Mikule). In Správní právo 3/2015. See also BÁRTA, M. Political emigration in Czechoslovakia (Politická emigrace v Československu). In: KOCIAN, J., DEVÁTÁ, M. (eds.) Únor 1948 v Československu. Nástup komunistické totality a proměny společnosti . Praha: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 2011, p. 177. See also BARŠOVÁ, A., BARŠA, P. Immigration and the liberal state ( Přistěhovalectví a liberální stat ). Masarykova univerzita v Brně. Brno 2005, pp. 216-217. 18 See Art. 33 of the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic from 11 July 1960: “ The Czechoslovak a.

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