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Czech government grants asylum to selected Syrian families

Xinhua, January 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec announced Wednesday that the cabinet approved a proposal granting asylum to about 70 Syrian refugees, mainly families with sick children who will undergo treatment in Czech hospitals.

The Czech side will choose suitable candidates in the coming months from the Syrian refugees who have relocated in Jordan. Before their eventual transfer to the Czech Republic, the selected Syrians are to be thoroughly screened by Czech intelligence services.

Chovanec said it was a humanitarian step, not a government effort to accept a big wave of refugees. The Czech interior ministry is expected to cover the costs for the refugee's resettlement. All accepted Syrian refugees are to be granted international protection in the form of asylum, and also medical and social assistance.

Members from Czech interior ministry and security units will find a special working group to choose suitable refugees for resettlement in the Czech Republic and screen them thoroughly. The group will have veto power over individual candidates for resettlement and are expected to monitor the refugees' integration in Czech society.

The chosen refugees should be people with a chance of integration in Czech society, and, if they show interest, they may stay in the Czech Republic permanently, said Chovanec. Parameters such as religion and education are among the factors to be taken into account, he said.

The Czech cabinet also approved on Wednesday the preparation of a program in aid of refugees directly in the areas hit by armed conflicts or natural disasters. The Czech Republic has said it would provide up to 100 million crowns (about 4.15 million U.S. dollars) a year for the program which this year will focus mainly on the Middle Eastern areas afflicted by the Syrian conflict.

The aim of the planned program is to help refugees in areas where they have been forced to settle down by financing their protection and source of livelihood.

Chovanec said all government ministers supported the proposal of granting asylum to Syrian families. He had previously said in Brussels that the Czech Republic was not capable of accepting thousands of refugees, for security and technical reasons. (1 U.S. dollar = 24 crowns) Enditem