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PODKOWA  LEŚNA - DĘBAK
05 - 805 OTRĘBUSY

Tel. 22 7298019; 7298071; 7298073; Tel./fax 22 7298089

The Bureau of Organization of Centres for Foreigners Applying for Refugee Status or Asylum (BOO) is a unit of the Office for Foreigners (UdsC). It is the place where foreigners who had applied for refugee status turn up to apply for social assistance.

            The BOO headquarters is located in the receptional centre in Podkowa Leśna - Dębak, formerly called Central Receptional Centre for Refugees which was founded in April 1992 by the Minister of Internal Affairs.

            It is composed of following units:

1. Management

          2. General Department

                                    3. Department of Granting Social Benefits

                                    4. Centres Logistical Support Department

I. BOO's DUTIES

         BOO fulfils the duties of the Chief of the Office for Foreigners concerning granting social benefits to foreigners applying for refugee status in Poland, as it is regulated by the Act of 13 June 2003 "On granting protection to aliens within the territory of the Republic of Poland" /Journal of Laws. dated 2003, No 128, item. 1176 with amendments/.

            The main statutory task of BOO is co-ordinating and managing the centres for asylum seekers. Because of a large number of asylum seekers the Office took steps to create a network of its own centres as well as centres rented from private companies. Currently BOO runs 20 centres, 3 of them are property of the Office:

Functions as a receptional centre, from where all the asylum seekers are transferred to the long-stay centres.

• Czerwony Bór near Łomża
• Linin near Góra Kalwaria

The other centres for asylum seekers are situated in:

• Łomża
• Lublin
• Niemce near Lublin
• Białystok - 2 R/C
• Warszawa - 2 R/C
• Bezwola near Radzyń Podlaski
• Moszna near Pruszków
• Radom
• Smoszewo
• Łuków
• Puste Łąki near Wyszków
• Kolonia Horbów near Biała Podlaska
• Kołbiel
• Bytom
• Katowice

BOO is responsible for granting social assistance to asylum seekers. This assistance consists of:

• accomodation in the centres

Foreigners who have been granted social benefits are successively transferred from the receptional centre in Podkowa Leśna - Dębak to the other centres, where they can stay until the end of the procedure.

• benefits concerning:

• - alimentation - full board in the canteen
• - tickets for public transport: for the purposes related to refugee status determination proceedings, medical visits, vaccinations and in other particularly justified cases
• - permanent monthly financial assistance for purchase of toilet articles and "pocket money"
• - providing asylum seekers with clothing and shoes
• - Polish language lessons

In all the centres children and adults have an opportunity to attend Polish language classes. Children who have been classified by the teacher can go to primary or secondary schools. Moreover, in some centres there are kindergartens run by asylum seekers.

• - access to public schools, school materials and books as well as covering of the expenses arising out of charges for education in schools

Furthermore, an asylum seeker placed in the centre can receive:

• an equivalent in money in return for food for children under 7 years of age, children going to school and ill persons who cannot be provided by the centre with an appropriate diet
• one-time financial assistance for purchase of clothing and footwear.

• medical care

Medical service for asylum seekers in Poland is co-ordinated by Central Hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration in Warsaw

• - medical care of the centres' doctors

In Dębak centre, as well as in the other centres, there is a dispensary, where 2 doctors, dentist and a nurse give medical help to asylum seekers. The dispensary has at its disposal a basic supply of medicines. Remedies prescribed by the doctor are refunded. If there are well-founded reasons patients may be sent to hospital.

• - covering expenses of the medical treatment outside the centres
• - representing foreigners in the proceedings concerning health and accident insurance

• financial benefit to cover on one's own the costs of stay on the territory of Poland for an asylum seeker for whom living in the centre is inadvisable because of his state of health or personal safety.
• granting assistance in the voluntary repatriation

Another task of BOO is to take custody of unaccompanied minor foreigners:

• a BOO employee appointed as a custodian of a minor supervises the provision of such minor with appropriate housing conditions, access to education and medical care, takes part in arranging his free time including cultural, leisure and sport activities, contacting national and international organizations, whose statutory aim is to act for the well-being of minors or refugees, in order to find family members of the minor.

• Office for Foreigners signed an agreement with the Municipal Council of Warsaw concerning renting places in two children's houses. After regulation of all legal issues, specialized institutions mentioned above are given charge of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers.

BOO deals with legal counselling:

• issuing administrative decisions concerning granting assistance provided for by the law
• representing BOO in the proceedings in the administrative courts
• preparing and giving opinion on the projects of law amendments concerning the field of work of BOO
• co-operation with the ombundsman in order to improve the system of granting assistance to asylum seekers
• entering into civil-legal contracts (ex. with medical centres or sponsorship contracts) within the scope of BOO's work, monitoring its proper realization by a contracting party.
• co-operation with state institutions and local authorities within the domain of the stay of asylum seekers in the centres
• co-operation with Municipal Centres for Family Assistance regards to foreigners who have been granted the refugee status and tolerated stay

• co-operation with non-governmental organizations and religious associations

BOO co-operates with following organizations: IOM (International Organization for Migration) - assistance in organizing repatriation to remote countries - UNHCR, Caritas Poland (Caritas Archidiecezji Warszawskiej, Białostockiej, Lubelskiej), Międzynarodowa Inicjatywa Humanitarna, Stowarzyszenie „Jeden Świat", Polish Humanitary Action, Polish Red Cross, Muslim Association - mainly material aid for refugees. Law Clinic of the Law Faculty of the Warsaw University and Human Rights Centre of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow provide aliens with free of charge legal counselling.

Receptional centre in Podkowa Leśna - Dębak has at its disposal 350 places. It is an open centre, guarded by security employees. Foreigners to whom the reception conditions have been granted are lodged in rooms for two, four or more persons, according to the family situation. In the centres there are kitchens and TV rooms. Asylum seekers can borrow books from the library. They are obliged to keep tidiness in their rooms and utility rooms of common use. People lodged in the centre are provided with full board in the canteen. In all the centres there are "mosques" - places of worship, accessible only for the interested asylum seekers.

According to the Act on Aliens, a foreigner regarding to whom the procedure for granting the refugee status has been initiated may be provided with social benefits for the required period until the final decision is issued plus for the period of 14 days from the date of its delivery. In particularly justified cases this period may be prolonged up to 3 months, upon the agreement of the UdsC's President (concerning persons who have been granted refugee status or tolerated stay).

II. SECURITY

All the residents of the centres are obliged to obey the legal regulations that are in force in Poland, as well as rules and regulations of the centres for foreigners applying for refugee status, issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, that have entered in force 12^th August 2003.

There is a great diversity of nationalities, religions, cultures, traditions and political backgrounds of the countries from which the asylum seekers originate. Therefore, apart from providing foreigners with reasonable living conditions, the office attaches great significance to the matter of respecting religious beliefs as well as security.

A large number of the residents in the centres, their multi-national character, lack of permanent occupation and facing different reality are the main reasons of dangerous incidents in the centres including law violations and other conflicts.

First steps are taken by BOO employees, whose duties are preventing and suppression of dangers by preventive actions (investigative and warning talks) and system of sanctions (reprimand, withdrawal of reception conditions, expulsion from the centre).

In more complex situations - as a part of the ongoing co-operation - contacts are made with central and local authorities responsible for maintaining public law and order in Poland (Police, Border Guards, State Security Agency).

Among the most frequent cases of violation of legal standards by asylum seekers are:

• - illegal crossing of the Polish border (concerning smuggling immigrants by specialized foreign criminal groups)
• - theft
• - fights and beatings
• - robbering and extortions
• - extortions of money from co-residents
• - conflicts of ethnic nature

Regards to a peculiar character of foreigners backgrounds in the centres, particular protection has been granted to unaccompanied minors staying in Poland. In Dębak centre there is a special zone for minors with a limited access for other asylum seekers. This sector has a 24- hour security monitoring and is guarded by specially appointed BOO employees with a pedagogical training and by security guard employees, as well as by the system of technical security (TV cameras, additional locks).