Special reception needs of vulnerable groups

Persons who need special treatment are defined particularly as:^[1]

1. Minors
2. Disabled people
3. Elderly people
4. Pregnant women
5. Single parents
6. Victims of human trafficking
7. Seriously ill
8. Mentally disordered people
9. Victims of torture
10. Victims of violence (psychological, psychical, including sexual).

An asylum seeker is considered a person who needs special treatment in the field of material reception conditions if there is a need to:

• Accommodate him or her in a reception centre adapted to the needs of disabled people or ensure a single room designed only for women or women with children;
• Place him or her in special medical premises (like a hospice);
• Place him or her in foster care corresponding to the psychophysical situation of the asylum seeker;
• Adapt his or her diet to his or her state of health.^[2]

If an asylum seeker is a person who needs special treatment, his/her needs concerning accommodation and alimentation are taken into account when providing material reception conditions.^[3] An asylum seeker who needs special treatment should be accommodated in the reception centre by taking into account his special needs.^[4]

The Border Guard ensures transport to the reception centre and – in justified cases – food during the transport after claiming asylum only to: disabled or elderly people, single parents and pregnant women.^[5] The same groups can benefit from this transport after the Dublin transfer and release from a detention centre.^[6] Other vulnerable asylum seekers cannot benefit from organised transport, they must get to the reception centre by themselves, which is considered ‘a gap in asylum system’.^[7] In practice, the transport for disabled or elderly people, single parents and pregnant women is provided rarely (see Criteria and restrictions to access reception conditions).

Some of the reception centres are adapted to the needs of disabled asylum seekers. All the centres managed by the Office for Foreigners have a special entry for disabled foreigners and bathrooms adapted to the needs of the asylum seekers on wheelchairs. Some other centres have made minor adaptations to address their needs. There is also a provision of rehabilitation services to this group of persons. The Office for Foreigners declares that it provides transport for medical examinations and rehabilitation services as well as specialist equipment when needed.^[8] Despite that, the Human Rights Commissioner indicates the centre’s limited preparedness to house people with disabilities.^[9]

There are no separate accommodation centres for traumatised asylum seekers, or other vulnerable persons (except women, see below).

In 2022, as the Office for Foreigners stated, all persons asking to enter the reception centres to work with minors there were checked in the Sexual Offenders’ Registry. None of them was identified in this registry.^[10] Also in 2022, the special phone number – for children at risk of violence and who have suffered violence, as well as for their parents and officers witnessing acts of violence towards children – started operating. However, the telephone works only for one hour a week.^[11] Moreover, in 2022, an NGO – Fundacja Dajemy dzieciom siłę – offered asylum-seeking parents (living outside of the reception centres) the possibility to attend 12 meetings concerning child upbringing without violence. They were organized in Warsaw in Polish, Russian and English.^[12]

Reception of women and children

The centre in Warsaw hosting exclusively single women or single women with children was closed in August 2021. Thus, in 2022, single women with children were accommodated in Podkowa Leśna-Dębak reception centre (in a separate, renovated for that purpose, building within the complex). The Office for Foreigners plans to open a new centre for single women and women with children in Jachranka.^[13]

The law facilitates living outside the centre for single women. As the Law on Protection specifies, financial allowance is granted when it is necessary in order to ensure the safety of the asylum seeker, with special consideration given to the situation of single women.^[14]

When providing material reception conditions to children, the need to safeguard their interests should be taken into account, especially taking into consideration family unity, the best interests of the child and their social development, security and protection (particularly if they are a victim of human trafficking) and their opinion according to their age and maturity.^[15]

Since 2008, the Office for Foreigners has a special agreement with the Police, UNHCR, “La Strada” Foundation and Halina Niec Legal Aid Centre aiming to better identify, prevent and respond to gender-based violence in reception centres.^[16] Special teams have been created in all reception centres, consisting of one representative from the Office for Foreigners, the Police and an NGO. Their task is to effectively prevent acts of violence in reception centres and quickly respond to any which do occur. There were 28 cases of violence in 2017, 13 in 2018, 14 in 2019, 10 in 2020 and 3 in 2021.^[17] In 2022, approx. 20 cases of violence (any violence, not only gender-based) were discussed by the special teams. According to the Office for Foreigners, none of them concerned sexual or gender-based violence, but violations of the rules of stay in the reception centre, conflicts between adults living in the centres, domestic violence and peer violence.^[18]

In 2021, the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) welcomed the tripartite teams, but noticed ‘the low number of reported cases of gender-based violence within reception facilities’. Moreover, it regretted that ‘specialist intervention in cases of domestic violence under the Blue Card procedure is not available to asylum-seeking women under the Law on Combating Family Violence. In practice, it was reported to GREVIO that some reception centres have established cooperation with municipalities to run Blue Card procedures, but this seems to depend on individual initiatives and no data were made available on the number of women seeking asylum covered by such a procedure’.^[19] Moreover, it is being increasingly highlighted that the Office for Foreigners’ employees in the reception centres are not social workers; thus, they are not trained to deal with crises and to work with vulnerable persons such as victims of domestic violence.^[20] However, the Office for Foreigners opposes those claims, pointing to several trainings conducted for the centres’ staff, including cleaners and security services, by NGOs (Fundacja Dajemy dzieciom siłę, La Strada).^[21]

Reception of unaccompanied children

The only safeguards related to the special reception needs of unaccompanied children are those referring to their place of stay. Unaccompanied children are not accommodated in the reception centres. The custody court places them in a youth care facility, so unaccompanied children are not accommodated with adults in practice. Until the court decides on placing a child in a regular youth care facility, an unaccompanied child stays with a professional foster family functioning as an emergency shelter or in a youth care facility for crisis situations.^[22]

The law also refers to qualified personnel that should undertake activities in the asylum procedures concerning unaccompanied children (a defined profile of higher education, and 2 years of relevant experience).^[23]

When providing material reception conditions to children, the need to safeguard their interests should be taken into account, especially taking into consideration family unity, the best interests of the child and their social development, security and protection (particularly if they are a victim of human trafficking) and their opinion according to their age and maturity.^[24]

Currently, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children can be placed in youth care facilities throughout the country. In 2022 they were accommodated in:

• Kętrzyn (16 children placed),
• Warsaw (4 children placed),
• Ełk (4 children placed),
• Białystok (2 children placed),
• Gorzów Wielkopolski (3 children placed),
• Wasilków (3 children placed)
• Krasno (2 children placed)
• Supraśl (2 children placed),
• Chełm (2 children placed)
• Białowieża (2 children placed),
• Puławy (1 child placed),
• Suwałki (1 child placed),
• Skawina (1 child placed), and
• Płock (1 child placed). ^[25]

[1] Article 68(1) Law on Protection.

[2] Article 68(2) Law on Protection.

[3] Article 69a Law on Protection.

[4] Para 5(3) Annex to the Regulation on rules of stay in the centre for asylum seekers.

[5] Article 30(1)(8) Law on Protection.

[6] Article 40a and Article 89cb Law on Protection.

[7] Pachocka, M. and Sobczak-Szelc K., ‘Refugee Protection Poland – Country Report’, Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond Project (Horizon2020), January 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2U1A9uL, 73.

[8] Information from the Office for Foreigners, 26 January 2022.

[9] ECRE, ‘Seeking Refuge in Poland: A Fact-Finding Report on Access to Asylum and Reception Conditions for Asylum Seekers’, April 2023, available here: https://bit.ly/41hGgdJ, 25.

[10] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.

[11] Office for Foreigners, ‘Telefon konsultacyjny dla cudzoziemców dotkniętych przemocą bądź będących świadkami przemocy’, 21 March 2022, available in Polish here: http://bit.ly/3TVA89a.

[12] Office for Foreigners, ‘Grupy wsparcia dla rodziców cudzoziemskich w procedurze uchodźczej’, 22 June 2022, available in Polish here: http://bit.ly/42WJqWA.

[13] Office for Foreigners, ‘Handbook of the Department of Social Assistance’, 2022, available at: http://bit.ly/3UdCDUB. Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 26 January 2022 and 3 February 2023.

[14] Article 72(1)(1) Law on Protection.

[15] Article 69b Law on Protection.

[16] Porozumienie w sprawie standardowych procedur postępowania w zakresie rozpoznawania, przeciwdziałania oraz reagowania na przypadki przemocy seksualnej lub przemocy związanej z płcią wobec cudzoziemców przebywających w ośrodkach dla osób ubiegających się o nadanie statusu uchodźcy, 25 March 2008. See also Office for Foreigners, ‘Handbook of the Department of Social Assistance’, 2022, available at: http://bit.ly/3UdCDUB.

[17] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 1 February 2017, 1 February 2018, 15 January 2019, 22 January 2020, 26 January 2021 and 26 January 2022.

[18] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.

[19] GREVIO, ‘(Baseline) Evaluation Report on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) POLAND’, 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3IKkIy6, 84.

[20] SIP, ‘Raport nt. przeciwdziałania przemocy wobec kobiet i przemocy domowej’, 16 September 2021, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3tyl04y; SIP, ‘Alternative report’, 10 September 2020, available in English at: https://bit.ly/3HGMtq4, 6.

[21] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 26 January 2022.

[22] Article 62 (2) Law on Protection.

[23] Article 66 Law on Protection.

[24] Article 69b Law on Protection.

[25] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.