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II. STATUS OF OBSERVANCE OF UKRAINIAN MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS IN THE RECEIVING COUNTRIES

4. OTHER CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

CZECH REPUBLIC. Owing to its territorial proximity and cultural affinity, the Czech Republic, just like Poland, has one of the largest groups of migrant workers from Ukraine. By expert estimates of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Czech Republic, this number is on the average from 100,000 to 200,000, although unofficial Czech sources set the figure at about 300,000 persons.

The conditions of the migrant workers’ stay in the Czech Republic are similar to those in Poland with the only difference that visa regulations between Ukraine and the Czech Republic are in effect since June 2000 and the Czech government pursues a more rigid policy in relation to all the “illegals.”

In March 1996 Ukraine and the Czech Republic signed the Treaty on Reciprocal Employment of Ukrainian and Czech Citizens providing for a limited number of Ukrainians permitted to work in the Republic. In 1997, for instance, the quota set by the Czech government was 60,000.

However, in reality, the number of employed Ukrainians and those seeking jobs was much higher than the established quota.

The introduction of visa regulations almost did not change the situation. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informed, the reason of this continuity is the long-standing and terribly bureaucratized procedure for granting employment visas. The whole process lasts up to six months, which, of course, goes against the requirements of both employers and job seekers.

To speed up the process, our countrymen solicit the services of tourist companies (Ukrainian and Czech) and depart for the Czech Republic with tourist visas for subsequent employment, illegal, as a rule. The flaws in Czech legislation explain why the employers themselves are interested in illegal migrant workers. However, the authorities have lately introduced harsher sanctions against employers for hiring illegal workers and also established more stringent control over the dormitories, enterprises and places of residence of illegal migrants within the context of fighting terrorism after the events of September 11, 2001.

Ukrainian citizens commit a large number of offenses, felonies included, in the Czech Republic, which has made the local law enforcement bodies introduce stricter control over both legal and illegal Ukrainian migrant workers.

According to the information of the Czech mass media, the murder of a Czech policeman by a Russian citizen in August 2002 was followed by a three-day check of 173 facilities where aliens resided. Out of the 1,165 aliens, most of them Ukrainian citizens, 171 persons were detained for violations of visa regulations. On August 10-11, 2002 alone, 205 persons, mainly Ukrainian citizens, were deported.

HUNGARY. By the information of the Ukrainian Embassy in Hungary, the number of Ukrainian citizens working there legally and illegally is negligible, and in the summer it reaches several hundreds. Migration to this country is of a typically seasonal nature. Most of the illegally employed come from the border districts of Transcarpathian oblast and work in agriculture or on construction sites in summer, staying legally in Hungary throughout one month without visas.

Notably, the overwhelming majority are ethnic Hungarians who have a good command of the language and reside in the homes of their relatives or acquaintances. For this purpose they cross the border under simplified procedure on the basis of Ukrainian national passports with an insert permitting them entry only into the border districts of Hungary for ten days in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on the Simplified Procedure for Crossing the State Border by Citizens who Reside in the Frontier Regions signed on February 26, 1993 at Budapest.

Among the legally employed Ukrainian citizens predominate also those residents in the districts neighboring on Hungary, who, being, as a rule, of Hungarian origin and having a command of Hungarian, went to Hungary for permanent employment, eventually acquired citizenship, and therefore are interested in legal residence and employment in that country.

REPUBLIC OF BELARUS. Since Belarus has a higher standard of living than Ukraine, our citizens have been traveling to Belarus to work. Their overwhelming majority comes from Volyn oblast to work mainly in Brest oblast and Grodno oblast of Belarus. By the information of local bodies of state authority, approximately 1,500 Volynians depart for Belarus every day where they work legally and then return to their original homes in the evening. Our citizens are engaged in unskilled work in agriculture, wood processing, transportation, education and health care.

Besides, as the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus informed, every year, from May to December, in compliance with a regulation of the Council of Ministers of Belarus, approximately 5,000 Ukrainian citizens are engaged in agriculture in the above-mentioned oblasts. In June and September their number swells to 6,500.

REPUBLIC OF LATVIA. Latvia has a comparatively small number of Ukrainian citizens. By the information of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Latvia, 1,030 Ukrainian citizens were registered with its consular department as of July 1, 2002. Such a small number is explained by the lengthy procedure of handling documents by the State Employment Service of Latvia and the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Latvia.

According to the embassy, all relevant documents are issued in about two months and within this period Ukrainian citizens are not permitted to work. Such a procedure denies Ukrainian specialists the chance of applying for urgent and short-term jobs, which employers offer now and then when they cannot guarantee permanent employment of applicants. Therefore, Ukrainian job seekers and Latvian companies draw up the documents and receive corresponding permits for a validity period of one year. The costs of executing the documents are extremely high and tell on the pay of each invited specialist. Besides, the employer is not bound by any obligations to provide lodgings for the migrant workers.

When a migrant worker rents a room, he cannot receive a tenancy certificate that is required by the Department of Migration. That is why Ukrainian citizens are lodged in dilapidated dormitories. To resolve this problem, the Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia advises that migrants submit to the Department of Citizenship and Migration tenancy contracts concluded with the employers.

Neither does the government of Latvia provide any guarantees of partial or full compensation for disability or loss of breadwinner in case of his death. The only thing a worker can count on is to be paid under insurance policies against accidents and medical insurance contracts.

Yet another problem is that the employment permits are issued for a definite locality, say the cities of Riga or Liepāja, which denies the migrant worker the right to perform jobs elsewhere. The Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia advises that just “Republic of Latvia” be stated in the employment permit so that the employer could have a free hand for admitting invited workers.

Currently, Latvia offers the prospect of hiring 300 Ukrainian specialists for the shipbuilding sector.

During the past two months another problem complicated the employment of Ukrainian citizens in Latvia. For applicants who want to work with shipbuilding companies the Latvian Embassy in Kyiv issues short-term visas for 14 days with no right to extension. The Department of Citizenship and Migration issues permits for the receipt of visas for one month. Under such conditions residence permits and other permits have to be made out as quickly as possible and the total amount of duties and all sorts of charges comes to US $1,000.

In January 2002 employment permits per one alien cost US $120, while an annual permit for work in Liepāja came to 800 lats (US $1,250).

Judging from the information of the mass media, Latvia derived about 11 million lats in profits for ship repair in 2001. The share contributed by Ukrain­ian specialists accounted for more than 50%, and by simple estimates not less than US $1 million was transferred to the Latvian budget.

CROATIA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. According to the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Croatia, consular registration at July 1, 2002 covered 238 Ukrainian citizens, including 42 persons seeking jobs. There is no definite information about the number of illegally employed Ukrainian citizens on the territory of Croatia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of them, as the embassy informed, are women from 18 to 30 years of age, who provide sexual services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Croatia informed that the largest number of women was present in the country in the period from 1995 to 1998. Croatia’s internal affairs agencies conducted in 1998 a number of “cleansing” operations to liquidate this illegal business, after which the number of Ukrainian women decreased sharply. From 2000 on, the official statistics of the Department of Illegal Migration of Croatia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs does not mention Ukraine as a source from which illegal migrants originate.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the situation is somewhat different. Judging from the information of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, Ukrainian women rank first among those who engage in prostitution and are deported for illegal stay in the country.

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