Government agrees on additional aid for refugees

The government on Monday agreed to send an additional 105 million crowns in aid largely to the Middle East and Africa this year and an additional 70 million in the next to help countries in the region hit by the refugee crisis. The bulk of the funds will go to two EU funds for Syria and Africa but some will also be set aside for the World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Syrian refugee camp in Hosh Hareem, Lebanon, photo: CTK

In recent months, the Czech Republic has come under fire within the European Union for taking a tough stance on EU migrant quotas. As if to offset the criticism, the country is trying to help in other ways – pursuing a policy of helping the growing number of refugees in the Middle East fleeing the conflict in Syria, for example, to countries like neighbouring Jordan. On Monday, the government approved an additional 105 million crowns to go to aiding refugees. At a briefing following Monday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said this:

“This demonstrates that the Czech Republic is showing solidarity, that we can show solidarity, and that we can actively help.”

Bohuslav Sobotka, photo: Filip Jandourek

Pavel Bělobrádek, the head of the Christian Democrats within the ruling coalition, said he had pressed for additional aid for months; his colleague in government Finance Minister Andrej Babiš pointed out there was no reason not to, saying there were plenty of “true” refugees in the region who needed help. Unlike, he said, some migrants who had presumably fled for economic reasons. Communist Party deputy leader Jiří Dolejš made a similar statement on Czech TV:

“Providing funds for refugee centres outside the European Union is certainly more effective than paying refugees here.”

The Czech Republic has regularly contributes aid abroad: the country’s Foreign and Interior Ministries this year budgeted 877 million crowns in development funds and 110 million in humanitarian aid comes to more than one billion crowns.

Meanwhile on Monday, the government also took steps to help countries closer to home, agreeing to send some 20 police officers and 50 soldiers to help guard Slovenia’s Schengen area border with Croatia for a period of roughly one to one-and-a-half months. The move is similar to steps already taken in Hungary, where Czech personnel are also providing help. Defence Minister Martin Stropnický discussed the army’s mission:

Slovenian border with Austria, photo: CTK

“We will provide transport trucks and technical support. But the backbone will be the involvement of the medical unit.”

Regarding the migrant crisis at home, the Czech Republic still faces flak over its own refugee detention centres, following criticism by the country’s ombudswoman, Anna Šabatová. On Thursday, the interior minister is due to tour one of the facilities with a group of European ambassadors as well as the Czech Republic’s Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, in a move to apparently counter criticism that refugees had been detained in unacceptable living and hygienic conditions.