BRIEFS
US-SPONSORED INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CRIME CENTRE OPENED IN ROMANIA
Following a US initiative, a "Regional Centre for Combatting Trans-Border Crime" was opened in Bucharest, in November. The centre will be run by a multi-country and multi-disciplinary team comprising customs, intelligence and police experts, Associated Press reports. Its headquarters are located in a giant palace, built by the former Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu.
The centre's first objectives are to combat the illegal traffic of migrants and drugs trafficking in the region. The centre is to cooperate closely with Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.
According to AP, Romania was chosen to host the centre because it is considered a crossroads for illegal traffic to and from Russia and Western Europe. The head of the Romanian Intelligence Service said the centre will "function as an intelligence agency". It is to gather and transmit information to border police and intelligence services in south-eastern Europe.
US intelligence agencies will provide technical support to the centre, which will also receive assistance from Switzerland, Italy and Austria.
In June Italy had concluded an agreement with Romania on closer justice and police cooperation between the two countries. Under the agreement, 10 Romanian prosecutors are to attend a training course in Italy. Two experts from the Italian Justice Ministry are to cooperate on a permanent basis with experts from the Romanian Public Ministry in fighting against organised crime and corruption.
Sources: AP, Bucharest, 16.11.99; Rompres, 26.6.99.BULGARIA PARTICIPATES IN ENFOPOL INITIATIVE
BTC (the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company) is participating in the EU's upcoming Enfopol telecommunications interception initiative, the Bulgarian newspaper Kesh reported in June.
Source: Kesh Newspaper, Bulgarian Press Digest, 24.06.99HUNGARY PREPARES SCHENGEN INTEGRATION
Mid-July saw Hungary considering upgrading its security service communications with a Tetrapol system. Tetrapol mobile communications systems are favoured by security services for their secure communications, and they have been officially adopted by the Schengen Group. Thus, Tetrapol acquisition by Hungary would provide a medium for cross-border cooperation.
Highlighting one area of Hungary's cross-border concerns, Hungarian Customs set up in early August a special 135 person unit with nationwide powers to combat major smuggling operations, or smuggling operations suspected of being linked to organised crime.
Source: MTI news agency, Budapest, 2.8.99."J" FOR JEW, "G" FOR GYPSY
The Czech national airline, CSA, specially marked Roma passengers in passenger lists on flights to London, the Czech weekly Respekt revealed in October. Over the last year, a "G" for Gypsy was added to names of passengers with darker skin on CSA flights to London.
The use of the special code was scrapped only after the internal procedure was leaked via e-mail. CSA is believed to have introduced the measure in an attempt to keep track of the number of Czech Roma people going to Britain to seek asylum.
Britain has repeatedly threatened to reintroduce the visa obligation for Czech nationals, if the Czech Republic fails to act against the growing exodus of Roma people, and some reports suggested that the introduction of the "G" code was part of an agreement between British immigration authorities and the CSA. These allegations were, however, denied by CSA Vice President Rudolf Kral, who claimed the measure was purely internal. Kral said that, in early 1998, the airline's London employee had asked whether the presence of Roma passengers on CSA flight could cause any problems upon arrival in Britain, whereupon the staff met his demands by introducing the "G" mark.
(A reminder from the editor: on the eve of World War II, Switzerland and Sweden, in seeking to stop the influx of Jewish refugees from Germany, asked the Nazi German authorities to mark the passports of German nationals of Jewish origin with a "J" in order to facilitate their detection at border checks.)
Sources: AP report, Prague, 18.10.99; Airline Industry Information, 20.10.99.CZECH REPUBLIC AND UKRAINE TO ADDRESS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
A group of experts from the Czech Republic and Ukraine was set up in early November to seek ways of curbing the number of Ukrainians who are illegally working in the Czech Republic, after the Czech government threatened with reintroduce a visa requirement for Ukrainian nationals. Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman made it clear that his government was determined to swiftly implement the planned measure if the bi-national expert group failed to curb illegal immigration from Ukraine.
The Czech Republic is under strong pressure from the EU to adapt its legislation to the Schengen and EU visa regime towards third countries. Ukrainians form the bulk of illegal workers in the Czech Republic. In October, the Czech Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministries began preparing the imposition of the visa requirement for nationals from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
Source: CTK news agency, Prague, 6.11.99.RISE IN NUMBERS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN EUROPE IN 1999
According to the UNHCR, asylum applications in 22 European countries rose by 31 per cent during the first 9 months of 1999, compared to the same period last year.
At the end of September, the total number of applications was close to 323,700 applications. The biggest increase, by 112 per cent, was registered in Hungary, with a total of 9,360 applications, as against 4,410 in 1998. Other countries which saw a rise in applications significantly beyond the European average included Belgium (75% rise), Austria (70%), Britain (63%) and Switzerland (54%).
Among the countries on the bottom end of the list are Sweden, with 16 per cent fewer requests, the Netherlands (13% down) and Germany (only 5.8% up).
In terms of percentages, the rise in numbers of applications appears important. However, figures should be considered against the fact that, in the first half of 1999, a war was being fought out on European soil - the Kosovo war, which triggered the displacement of more than one million people. Against this background, a total of 324,000 asylum applications is not a high, but a strikingly low number. It suggests that, in the context of the Kosovo war, mechanisms set up by Western European countries to prevent would-be refugees from applying for asylum have begun to bear fruit. In assessing the refugee policies of different European countries, the number of asylum seekers per capita (of the population of a State) is of greater importance than figures relating the extent of a relative rise or fall of asylum applications in a particular country. For example, almost 40,00 people were allowed to apply for asylum in Switzerland (with a population of less than 7 million), while the corresponding figure for Sweden (more than 8 million inhabitants) was 8,100. In Germany, a country ten times as large as Switzerland, the total number of applicants was 73,250.
Source: Agence France Press, Geneva, 2.11.99.AMNESTY FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS IN GERMANY
On 19 November, the States Interior Ministers of Germany decided to grant stays to some 20,000 rejected asylum seekers who have been living in the country illegally for years.
The amnesty measure applies to families who arrived in Germany before 1 July, 1993 and on condition that they have legal jobs and children attending German schools. Similar rules apply to single persons who applied for asylum before 1 January 1990.
Source: AP, 19.12.99DNA TESTS ON AUSTRIAN CONVICTS
At least 2,600 of a total of 7,000 Austrian prisoners will have to undergo DNA tests, Austrian Interior Minister Schlögl announced in September. By using "genetic fingerprints" of more than a third of the country's prison population, Austrian law enforcement authorities hope to clear up a number of old unresolved violent crimes, the Interior Minister explained. Moreover, the DNA sets are to form the core of a new DNA database to be set up for the purpose of identifying possible recidivous offenders.
Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 3.9.99