Author
The Asylum Act requires the RFA to determine whether applicants for international protection are vulnerable.[1] If an applicant for international protection is deemed to be a vulnerable person, the RFA must also identify whether the applicant has specific needs, determine the nature of those needs, and take them into account for the entire duration of the applicant’s stay in the asylum facility.
The definition of ‘vulnerable person’ covers, in particular: unaccompanied minors, parents or family with a minor child, or parents or family with an adult child with a disability, persons over 65 years of age, persons with a disability or a serious illness, pregnant women, victims of trafficking in human beings, or people who have been tortured, raped, or subjected to other serious forms of psychological, physical, or sexual violence.[2]
A biannual training course on human trafficking is provided for staff working in reception centres for asylum seekers and refugees, as well as in detention facilities for foreigners. The training, delivered in cooperation with La Strada Czech Republic, focuses on identifying victims of trafficking within these facilities and referring them to appropriate assistance. Although the authorities could not specify how many social workers have taken part in the course, they stated that each centre or facility has at least one social worker trained in detecting trafficking victims.[3]
The Asylum Act requires that the MoI ensures that persons working with applicants for international protection in asylum facilities, especially when they are vulnerable individuals, have received appropriate training.[4] In practice, in every asylum facility there is a special wing designated to accommodate vulnerable applicants where other applicants do not have access to.[5] There is currently no monitoring mechanism in place to assess vulnerability.
Single women and women with children are accommodated separately from single men and families. The Czech Republic operates a unique facility for the care of unaccompanied minor foreigners, the Facility for Children of Foreign Nationals (ZDC), which provides care to separated children who are not Czech citizens (not only to asylum seekers).
The reception system for unaccompanied migrant minors in the Czech Republic is a centralised system run by ZDC based in Prague. The ZDC – which was established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports – is the main centre specialised in the reception and care of all foreign children and refugees at risk. The facility includes a diagnostic institute, an educational care centre, and a primary school. Within the diagnostic institute, the facility primarily provides di agnostic, therapeutic, health, and educational services. Unaccompanied minors who are studying at secondary schools or universities are allowed to stay at the facility under a contract until the age of 26. To ensure a successful integration process, a so-called training apartment is also available, where individuals prepare for leaving the facility (in 2024, four UAMs studying at universities lived there).
The number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving in the Czech Republic each year is very low – between 30 and 70. In 2024, a total of 51 unaccompanied minor migrants passed through the Facility for Children of Foreign Nationals.[6] The largest group consisted of people from Ukraine (mostly from failing family or foster care backgrounds). Other significant groups were people from Syria and Afghani stan. Not all of these children applied for international protection. Updated data for 2025 were not available.
In case the capacity of ZDC is not sufficient, it is possible that the children are accommodated in unsuitable centres for Czech children with behavioural disorders, where they are faced with challenging conditions. The OPU team assists all unaccompanied migrant children who are placed in ZDC facilities or other childcare facilities or homes.
Staff of the ZDC, where unaccompanied foreign children are accommodated, receive periodic training by La Strada Czech Republic on the prevention of human trafficking. Further, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, efforts have been made to develop the training on human trafficking also for social workers of local offices for the social and legal protection of children (OSPODs). For 2023-2024, in co-operation with La Strada Czech Republic and UNICEF, a newly accredited training focusing on child trafficking is offered at the regional level.[7]
There are no specialised assistance measures available for victims of trafficking in the centres for asylum seekers and refugees of the RFA. In their comments on the draft GRETA report, authorities indicated that the facilities for asylum seekers have safeguards in place for potential victims of trafficking in human beings and they do not consider it necessary to set up a specific assistance program.[8]
During the asylum application process nuclear families are accommodated together.
[1] Section 81(2) of the Asylum Act.
[2] Section 2(1)(i) of the Asylum Act.
[3] GRETA report, op. cit., section 36.
[4] Section 79(8) of the Asylum Act.
[5] This is a practice observed in asylum facilities, but it is not guaranteed by law.
[6] European Migration Network, EMN ANNUAL REPORT on Asylum and Migration, 2024, available here.
[7] Ibid, section 38.
[8] GRETA report, op. cit., section 147.