Date of article: 05/08/2015
Daily News of: 10/08/2015
Country:
Lithuania
Author: Seimas Ombudsmen's Office
Article language: en

After investigating a complaint when the Migration Department and the Foreigners Registration Centre treated circumstances differently regarding asylum of a minor in Lithuania, the Seimas Ombudsman Augustinas Normantas recommended the Minister of the Interior Saulius Skvernelis to consider a possibility to regulate the legal status of minor aliens in cases when their parents become detained.
The investigation revealed that the Migration Department granted temporary territorial asylum to a complainant and his minor son in the Republic of Lithuania. However, after the decision of the Migration Department, the Lazdijai District Court detained the complainant creating an embarrassing situation by not specifying who should take care of a detainee’s minor son.
The Migration Department defended position that the complainant's son did not have a status of an unaccompanied minor alien, whereas the Foreigners Registration Centre was convinced that the complainant’s son already had the status of an unaccompanied minor alien.
The Seimas Ombudsman noted that the legislation regulates poorly the situation raised in a complaint, i.e. it is not clear enough what status a minor alien acquires when his/her parents (or relatives) with whom he/she comes to a country become detained as well as how issues of accommodation and care of such a minor should be dealt with.
“The issues of asylum are very sensitive especially when they are related to minors. Therefore, there should not be any ambiguities that would interfere with the interests of a child when dealing with issues of accommodation and care of minor aliens,” stated the head of the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office.
Further, the Minister of the Interior informed the Seimas Ombudsman that the State Board Guard Service put forward a recommendation to institutions subordinate to it to assess all factors and identify links between family members more clearly when preparing application to court regarding detention of an asylum seeker or application of an alternative measures than detention.
The Seimas Ombudsman was also notified that pursuing to implement the recommendations of the Seimas Ombudsman and to go through the general legal regulation of the European asylum system, the Ministry of the Interior put forward the amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens to Seimas (Parliament).