Author
The LITP prescribes that the Ministry of Interior is obliged, within 15 days from the expression of the intention to apply for international protection, to inform an applicant about the procedure for international protection, about rights and obligations applicants are entitled to in the procedure, and about the possibility to get free legal aid and to get into contact with UNHCR representatives and representatives of other organisations dealing with the protection of refugees’ rights.[1] This information must be given in the applicant’s own language or in a language he or she can be reasonably supposed “to be able to communicate” in.[2] The law does not specify whether the information should be provided orally or in writing. The same type of information is provided with the same modalities to applicants during all types of procedures except in border procedure where this information should be given by police officers.[3]
Official information on the procedure
At the beginning of the interview, the applicant is also informed about his or her duties in the procedure and during the interview. According to the Ministry of Interior, in general, information is provided during the process of lodging the application for international protection in the presence of interpreter and information is also given to the person in writing.[4] An information sheet, together with the rest of the documents (House Rules of the Reception Centre, information on Dublin procedure etc) is available in Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, English, Farsi, French, Russian, Tigrinya, Turkish, Pashto and Urdu.[5] According to the Ministry of Interior, if information is not translated in a particular language, then it is translated from Croatian in the presence of an interpreter.
Applicants are informed about the Dublin procedure when expressing the intention to apply international protection, and later on when lodging the application for international protection. They are provided with information explaining the purpose of the Dublin procedure as well as the purpose of taking fingerprints and of the Eurodac database. Also, information has clarified the procedure to be carried out if the applicant for international protection is unaccompanied child. The above information is available in 8 language versions: Urdu, English, French, Arabic, Croatian, Somali, Farsi and Turkish.[6]
The decision on the transfer that applicants receive include the ground for application of the Dublin Regulation, and also information on the fact that they can lodge a complaint before the Administrative Court within 8 days from the delivery of the decision. The Ministry of Interior does not provide a written translation of the Dublin decision, but they do explain it orally in a language that the applicant understands during the delivery of the decision itself.
No information is available on whether the common leaflet and the specific leaflet for unaccompanied children have been created in accordance with Article 4(3) of the Dublin III Regulation.
In 2022, Croatian Law Centre (CLC) implemented the project “Legal counselling in the procedure for the approval of international protection in 2021”. The Project was co-financed with the funds of the Fund for Asylum, Migration and Integration, and based on the contract concluded with the Responsible Authority for the Management of Funds for Internal Affairs, the Directorate for European Affairs, international relations and European Union funds of the Ministry of Interior.
The Project was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and targeted applicants for international protection. During the 2022, several information sessions on legal counselling services were held in the Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection in Zagreb. Legal counselling with interested applicants was provided in CLC’s premises. Within the framework of the project counselling for unaccompanied children applicants in institutions where children were accommodated and support to their guardians were also provided.
Among other things, within the project, an informative brochure for applicants for international protection as well as its simplified version adapted to unaccompanied children applicants was created on the project. The brochure contains information on who and under which conditions people can access the right to legal counselling, what legal counselling includes and how to exercise the right to legal counselling. Brochures are available in several languages.[7]
Furthermore, during the implementation of the project, a mobile application was created about the main features of the procedure for granting international protection and ways of exercising the rights of applicants in practice. The application is available at multiple languages (Croatian, Arabic, English, Farsi, Pashto and Turkish).[8]
Information on the procedure from NGOs
NGOs also provide information on asylum system. Some NGOs have issued leaflets and brochures which are also available in the Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection, as well in Reception Centre for Foreigners. A leaflet prepared in cooperation of UNHCR, Croatian Law Centre and the Ministry of Interior contains basic information on the procedure and rights and obligations during the procedure and is available in the both Receptions Centre for Applicants for International Protection and in the Reception Centre for Foreigners. The leaflet is available in Arabic, Croatian, English, Farsi, French, Pashto, Somali, Turkish, Ukrainian and Urdu. The leaflet is also available online on the Croatian Law Centre’s web page.[9]
The Centre for Peace Studies (CPS), an NGO also working within the integration of beneficiaries of international protection, has issued different leaflets dealing with inclusion into society, accommodation, education, free legal aid, family, religion, health and social care. The leaflets are available in Croatian, English and French. CPS has also issued a brochure entitled “Welcome to Croatian Society”, containing information on Croatian history, the political system of Croatia, cultural differences, information on detention, a short overview of asylum procedure etc.[10]
During 2022, the CPS published on its website and printed leaflets on free legal aid. The leaflet is available in several languages: Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Somali, Turkish, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Tigrinya, Ukrainian, French, in Spanish, English and Croatian.[11] In addition, in 2022, CPS also translated the most frequently asked questions about the procedure for seeking international protection and the rights of applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection into Russian and French.
The Centre for Missing and Exploited Children produced and printed leaflets for unaccompanied children, available in Croatian, English, Arabic and Farsi.[12]
The Croatian Law Centre, within the project entitled “Improving the protection of the rights of unaccompanied children”, prepared a leaflet for unaccompanied children. Leaflets are recorded as mp3 format in Arabic, Croatian, English, Farsi and Pashto.[13] In 2020, the Centre for cultural activities prepared 6 videos containing the necessary information for applicants for international protection and foreigners residing in Croatia, and one video contains information on legal counselling, accommodation and daily life.[14]
Information at the border
Several years ago, leaflets aligned with the LITP were prepared by the Croatian Law Centre and UNHCR in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and distributed by the Ministry of Interior. At some border crossing points, there is a lack of available interpreters. This prevents effective communication between foreigners (among whom some are potential applicants i.e. applicants for international protection) and border officers. However, according to the LITP third-country nationals or stateless persons in a reception centre, at a border crossing or in a transit zone of an airport, sea port or inland water port who wish to express their intention to apply for international protection shall be provided by police officers with all necessary information on the procedure for the approval of international protection in a language which they may justifiably be expected to understand and in which they are able to communicate.[15]
In practice, persons may seek international protection at police stations at the border but are not proactively informed of that possibility, although the authorities have indicated that border guards have received training on how to recognise indications that a person wishes to seek protection. Interpretation at the border is also problematic, especially for Afghan and Pakistani nationals.[16] Problems regarding access to the territory and then accordingly to the asylum system which started since the end of 2016 and are valid up until the end of 2022 (see Access to the territory and pushbacks).
With regard to decisions, these are written only in Croatian and are translated orally by an interpreter to the applicant during the delivery of the decision. However, due to the legal terms used in the decision, the level of understanding of that information by applicants is questionable (including the information on the available legal remedy and its deadline).
[1] Article 59(2) LITP.
[2] Article 14 LITP.
[3] Article 59(1) LITP.
[4] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, 28 January 2019.
[5] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, 28 January 2019.
[6] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, 28 January 2019.
[7] Croatian Law Centre: The project “Legal counselling in the procedure for the approval of international protection in 2021”- informative materials for those seeking international protection created and distributed, available at: https://bit.ly/46rM1JU.
[8] See: https://rhprotection.mup.hr/hr.
[9] The leaflet may be found at CLC web page in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3ux3zTR; in English at: https://bit.ly/3uzy9wk; in Arabic at: https://bit.ly/3E2AEKC; in Somali at: https://bit.ly/3E2Pxwi; in Turkish at: https://bit.ly/3jsn9Ku; in Pashto at: https://bit.ly/3rkgdn3; in Farsi at: https://bit.ly/3vbDOrh; in French at: https://bit.ly/3xhYksT; in Urdu at: https://bit.ly/37cZBH1; and in Ukrainian at: https://bit.ly/3KCbpB9.
[10] According to the Centre for Peace Studies, the brochure is available in Arabic, Croatian, Farsi, French, English, Russian and Turkish.
[11] Centre for Peace Studies, Leaflet on free legal aid, available at: https://bit.ly/44cOcie.
[12] Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Welcome to Croatia: Guide for unaccompanied children, available at: https://bit.ly/2TBXncq.
[13] Croatian Law Centre, ‘Izrađen informativni letak za djecu bez pratnje u audio formatu – dostupan i na web stranici HPC-a’, 17 July 2017, available at https://bit.ly/2H9BpX3.
[14] The video is available at: https://bit.ly/32CTDJP.
[15] Article 59(1) LITP.
[16] ECRE, Balkan route reversed, December 2016, 11-12.