During the period of independence, i.e., over the last almost 14 years, more than 30,000 foreigners have applied to the Polish authorities for refugee status. Only one and a half thousand people received this status. In 2002 alone, 5,153 people tried to obtain refugee status in Poland, but only 280 succeeded. The problem is that the criteria for granting this status in Poland were very strict. For example, a foreigner had to prove that he personally suffered persecution by the authorities in his country due to racial or national affiliation, social origin, or religious beliefs. Such requirements were also applied to Chechens, although it is known that there is a war in their homeland, and Russian military often persecuted them solely for their national affiliation.
A deadlock situation arose. On the one hand, dozens of Chechen families who arrived in Poland did not receive refugee status, and on the other, Polish authorities could not deport them because they would face persecution, imprisonment, or torture in their homeland. They found themselves, so to speak, outside the law. A similar story can be told about children from Afghanistan who ended up in Poland without adult care. Last year, 213 such children tried to obtain refugee status here.
Polish legislators needed to somehow solve these problems and also bring their legal system in line with EU requirements. The representative of the UN Commissioner for Refugees, Agnieszka Serkiewicz, believes that with this law, Polish deputies will also raise the country's authority in the eyes of interested foreigners: "Refugee protection is based on the ability of refugees to reach a safe country. And it is important that after joining the EU, we do not cease to be such a country."
Now the situation for refugees should change for the better, as the new law provides for several innovations. The most important of them is the introduction of the status of "tolerated stay". It will be granted to those who have no grounds for obtaining refugee status but cannot be deported due to a threat to life or health. This temporary status will grant the right to work, social assistance, medical care, and the opportunity to receive education. The advantages are attractive not only for genuine refugees but also for those who would like to improve their living conditions in this way. For example, Ukrainians. According to the data of the Polish Refugee Office, in 2000, 70 Ukrainian citizens tried to obtain this status, and in 2001 already twice as many. None received it.
A lawyer of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Professor Irena Rzeplińska explains this by the fact that Ukraine does not belong to those countries accused of violating the Geneva Convention on human rights. Also, during its independence, Ukraine has not seen armed conflicts, mass unrest, persecution of ethnic or religious groups. "Therefore, there is every reason to believe," says Irena Rzeplińska, "that Ukrainians who ask for refugee status are driven by economic rather than political reasons."