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Friday 4, May 2012
PASTROGOR, May 4 (UNHCR) – Bulgaria opened the long awaited Pastrogor transit centre for newly arriving asylum-seekers this week, allowing for the transfer of people currently staying in closed detention facilities.
Situated near the border with Turkey, the centre which can accommodate 300 people will serve as a temporary home to asylum-seekers while Bulgaria reviews whether it is responsible for determining their asylum claims – under EU Dublin II arrangements – and whether their claims are manifestly unfounded.
The first twelve inhabitants will be transferred to Pastrogor, in Haskovo region, from the closed detention facility in Lyubimets today.
Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that “the Pastrogor centre is a testament to Bulgaria’s commitment for the highest standards of international protection,” as he cut the ceremonial ribbon at the Centre’s opening yesterday (3 May).
To date, many asylum-seekers entering Bulgaria have been detained in centres run by the Ministry of Interior alongside irregular migrants awaiting deportation. On average, they have stayed between one and two months before the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) transferred them to an open reception centre in Sofia or Banya.
But some asylum-seekers, including children, have spent five months in the closed detention facilities, called Special Centres for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners, in Busmantsi or Lyubimets due to the lack of beds in the open reception centres.
“This practice is finished,” said Nikola Kazakov, the Head of the State Agency for Refugees, at the opening of the new building. He said that SAR had taken a decisive step in providing open reception at the highest standards. “The Transit Centre is the most modern in Europe, only a new centre in Poland compares,” Kazakov said.
UNHCR’s Bulgaria Representative Toshitsuki Kawauchi welcomed the new transit centre and said he hopes that the “State Agency for Refugees will continue to expand Bulgaria’s reception capacity.”
“UNHCR also encourages the government to pursue alternative forms of accommodation, because no asylum-seeker or refugee should end up in detention,” said Kawauchi.
The SAR plans to provide another 200 beds for asylum-seekers this summer when it vacates its administrative premises, adding to the existing 750 beds in the two reception centres in Banya and Sofia.
Bulgaria receives an average of some 1,000 asylum-seekers a year. The majority of asylum-seekers cross into Bulgaria from Turkey, and are usually apprehended at the border by the border police.
The Pastrogor centre includes a library, prayer rooms, medical facilities, a children and sports playground, and will be operated by a staff of 35 people.
By Boris Cheshirkov, in Pastrogor, Bulgaria
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