Latvia grants asylum to 17 Iraqis, Syrians, Eritreans relocated from southern Europe
2016-08-03 12:38:00 Written by The Baltic Times Published in English Articles Read 2934 times-
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- 2016-08-02
- BNS/LETA/TBT Staff/Riga
![Accomodations for refugees at Diavata refugee camp in Greece [Sorneguer]](http://www.baltictimes.com/media/photos/137293_13717766257a0704b619e4_big.jpg)
The Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs has decided to grant refugee status and alternative protection to 17 people from Iraq, Syria, and Eritrea who have been moved to Latvia from southern European countries, the migration authority relayed to LETA.
Refugee status has been granted to five individuals from Iraq, while alternative protection has been provided to 12 individuals from Syria and Eritrea. The Iraqi and Syrian families were moved from Greece and the Eritreans came from Italy.
The families are currently living at an asylum centre in Mucenieki and searching for permanent homes.
Although refugee status in granted indefinitely, alternative protection is provided for a period of one year. If after one year the circumstances in the nation of origin remains unchanged so that the individual in question no longer needs protection, he or she is issued a new one-year residence permit.
Two families from Syria and two from Iraq were brought to Latvia from Greece under an EU-wide programme, while two Eritreans were relocated from Italy.
Alternative status can be provided to an individual if there is a reason to believe that this person is in danger of being exposed to death penalty or corporal punishment, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, or degrading punishment in his or her country of nationality or previous country of residence (if a person is stateless); this individual needs protection due to international or domestic armed conflicts and cannot return to his or her country of nationality or previous country of residence (if a person is stateless).
Refugee status can be awarded if an individual has reasonable fear of persecution in his or her country of nationality or previous country of residence (if a person is stateless) due to his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political beliefs.
At present, Latvia has accepted 53 individuals under the EU-wide refugee relocation programme. Latvia has agreed to admit 531 refugees within two years. While the majority of them will be relocated from EU member states Greece and Italy, 50 people have to be moved from third countries, most likely Turkey.
