The problem of granting temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees seems to bother a part of the Ukrainians refugees who settled in the Republic of Moldova and also a part of civil society organizations that undertook to help these persons. The concern is likely caused by a normative document adopted by the authorities to amend other normative documents concerning the temporary protected status that the Moldovan state offer to Ukrainian refugees who stay in Moldova. The experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Difficulties in providing temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees. How can they be overcome?” discussed the given normative documents, how real the concerns are and what can be done during a short period of time if the concerns are based on real reasons.

Jana Costachi, secretary of state of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, said that the phenomenon of asylum seekers in Moldova is not a new one. There is a law on asylum seekers which has worked for many years. However, what happened after February 24, 2022 is not covered by this law. Moldova faced a huge flow of persons who wanted to enter the country. In the case of Ukrainian refugees, the denial of access has never been considered. The problem of return of internally displaced persons from Ukraine who violate the regime of stay in Moldova, as it happens to other foreigners, hasn’t been raised either. Over 800,000 persons from Ukraine transited the Republic of Moldova, according to official statistics. Currently, the internally displaced persons from Ukraine who stay in Moldova for over 90 days total about 39,000 grownups and approximately 26,000 children. The Ukrainian citizens, as the citizens of the EU member states, enjoy a visa free regime in Moldova. After the 90-day period, any person who wants to remain in the country needs to obtain an identity paper that shows the relationship between the individual and the state. As many as 2,037 Ukrainians in 2022 alone obtained the right to stay for multiple purposes, such as the reunification of the family, foreign investment and studies.

The asylum system remains open and any person who wants to obtain the status of refugee can seek asylum in the country. “However, the state turned out to be legally and functionally unprepared to provide papers to all the displaced persons. That’s why a derogation from the law was adopted to allow internally displaced persons to stay in Moldova after the 90-day period expires. The temporary protected status that was adopted by Government Decision in March is the third form of legalization of internally displaced persons. This is a precedent for the national legislation, Moldova being the first non-EU country that expressly applied the EU Directive by which internally displaced persons are granted the right to temporary protection. This means asking for an ID that allows the persons to stay in the country for a year and to benefit from the services offered by the Republic of Moldova. Until this status was granted, the relations with Moldovan institutions were based on Ukrainians IDs. After the Government decision on temporary protection was approved in March and took effect, the necessity of maintaining the derogation from the law on the status of foreigners disappeared. There are now over 10,500 persons who have asked for temporary protection,” stated Jana Costachi.

Vadim Pistrinciuc, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS), considers the adoption of normative documents that institute the temporary protected status is an organic move, a wish for the social protection legislation to cover more categories of people, to be simpler and to offer more resources. This dilemma is the biggest one for the protection systems in any state. Moldova didn’t have experience of hosting such a large number of refuges during such a short period of time. Earlier, several tens of applications for asylum were processed in Moldova each year. “What happened after February 24, 2022 as regards humanitarian assistance is also a tactical exercise for society, not only for the state, which showed how it can cope with such a crisis and what flaws different systems include. The large number, of three fourths, of Ukrainians who were hosted by households shows that the Moldovans can be extremely efficient in crisis situations. Partnerships between the state, the police, public associations and others appeared. What followed was a tactical exercise through the rapid transfer of the normative framework for welcoming all the people. In other words, during a short period of time, Moldova managed to acquire legislation, mechanisms, institutions, desks where refugees can go, etc.” said Vadim Pistrinciuc.

He noted that most of the contradictions appear because the refugees should not be treated homogenously, as a whole. “The number of persons who seek asylum is high, but everyone has different plans. When you are offered the right of protection, you are stripped of another right, for example to go to another country as a refugee, and discrepancies between refugees’ plans and the possibilities offered by the legislation on temporary protection appear as a result. The possession of IDs or particular documents to prove something is a problem for a refugee. Therefore, complications related to bureaucracy can appear. But the bureaucratic process in our country is much simpler than in other states. No other state is fully ready to cope with all the challenges related to refugees. A large number of refugees in Moldova means pressure exerted also on the local social system. There are refugees who decided to stay here until the war comes to an end and emphasis here needs to be placed on their integration into society. Without nongovernmental organizations, charity groups that assumed a part of these responsibilities, this would be impossible,” stated the IPIS director.

The debate was held as part of the initiative “Socially Responsible Management of External Financing” of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS) in partnership with the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, with support from Soros Foundation Moldova.