KOSOVO: ASSISTANCE NEEDED TO MANAGE IMMIGRATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRISTINA 000249 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE AND INL. EMBASSY VIENNA FOR DHS LUCAS, NSC HELGERSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2019 TAGS: PTER PGOV SMIG KV SUBJECT: KOSOVO: ASSISTANCE NEEDED TO MANAGE IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM IN KOSOVO Classified By: AMBASSADOR TINA S.KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please seen paragraph 12. ¶2. (C) Summary: Increasing numbers of foreigners are entering Kosovo and requesting stay and asylum. Kosovo's laws governing asylum and migration are good, but border authorities lack the technological and physical resources to properly implement them. The Kosovo Police have seen an upswing in the number of persons requesting asylum over the past year, including six Afghan nationals who appeared on the border and then later fled from an insecure holding facility. The GOK lacks a secure facility to house aliens, lacks access to international law enforcement databases necessary to verify visitors' identities, and lacks a coherent organizational structure to manage foreigners and asylum seekers. Establishing effective border control and migration processes is critical to ensuring Kosovo's internal security. We request immediate assistance to help the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA) develop an enforcement-based immigration service and to properly implement the laws on foreigners, asylum and citizenship. End Summary. ¶3. (C) Efficiently managing requests for asylum and stay of foreigners is integral to ensuring Kosovo's internal security. While Kosovo has strong laws on citizenship, foreigners and asylum, it lacks the technological and physical resources to implement these laws. As is the case in other Balkan countries, Kosovo's porous borders, weak law enforcement and limited information technology resources, make the country vulnerable to trafficking-in-persons, transnational crime, smuggling, and terrorist movements into Western Europe. Increasingly, the Government of Kosovo is receiving requests for asylum and stay of foreigners from persons who lack appropriate, if any, travel documents. The Problems ¶4. (C) The immigration and asylum issue is complex. Kosovo lacks a coherent organizational structure to accept and review requests for stay and/or asylum. Prior to 2008, the United Nations managed border crossings and handled all requests for asylum through UNMIK's Department of Borders, Asylum, and Migration (DBAM). In 2008, in accordance with new Kosovo laws governing these issues, the GOK established a new Directorate for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration (DCAM) within the Kosovo Police (KP),and UNMIK transferred oversight of these functions to the European Union's Rule of Law Mission (EULEX). This new institution is Kosovo-run with limited oversight by international authorities. ¶5. (C) Kosovo now has new, post-UNMIK laws on citizenship and migration that, on paper, allow for a stronger law enforcement role in preventing cross-border crime and illegal migration. Currently, these laws are unenforceable because DCAM has not yet developed administrative instructions for implementing them. In the absence of administrative instructions, the Border Police and DCAM use UNMIK administrative directions as their guide when accepting stay and asylum requests. In practice, Kosovo's existing system for immigration and asylum is a European model which treats asylum and migration as an administrative function lacking any capacity for enforcement. This leaves gaps in internal security among Kosovo's fledgling law enforcement institutions focused on immigration. ¶6. (C) A critical gap exists in how Kosovo manages asylum seekers and refugees. The KP lacks a secure alien reception center/detention facility to hold foreigners and asylum seekers while courts review their requests. Currently, foreigners requesting stay and asylum seekers are detained in a church in Pristina until a judge renders a decision. The facility is insecure, and detainees can come and go as they please. (Note: The MOIA tells us that it is in the process of acquiring a secure detention facility, but the church remains in active service. End Note) ¶7. (C) Information management is also underdeveloped in Kosovo's current structure. Kosovo does not have access to INTERPOL or EUPOL, and when a suspicious person enters Kosovo, the police cannot run names and/or fingerprints through criminal databases and cannot confirm an individual's identity. Also, the Border Police, police stations, and Kosovo Police headquarters are not connected to a shared database for criminal intelligence, and there is no central repository for law enforcement data. (Note: Embassy has assistance plans to help the MOIA establish a law enforcement database and information agency, pending the release of FY08 funds programmed for this project. End Note) Incidents ¶8. (C) In March 2008, three Sri Lankans sought entry into Kosovo through Pristina Airport. Allegedly, they were traveling on fraudulent documents and could not provide Border Police with an address within Kosovo. They simply declared that they were entering Kosovo to visit mosques. In accordance with UNMIK regulation, the Border Police detained the visitors, reviewed their requests for stay, and subsequently deported them to Sri Lanka. In March 2009, four Afghan nationals applied for entry at Kosovo's Hani i Elezit border crossing, Kosovo's main border with Macedonia. The individuals were traveling without documents and could not specify a final destination for travel within Kosovo. While authorities were reviewing the request for stay, the Kosovo Police housed the Afghans in a church in Pristina. The Afghans left the church and disappeared. In May 2009, four Afghans entered Kosovo illegally via Montenegro. The Kosovo Police interdicted and detained them in Peja/Pec in western Kosovo. The case was referred to a judge in Peja/Pec municipality who issued a deportation order. Upon learning of the judgment, the Afghans requested asylum. This request is pending, and the Afghans remain in the custody of Kosovo authorities. ¶9. (C) As asylum and stay requests increase, Kosovo must also contend with returning displaced persons. The German and Swiss governments, we have learned, intend to return an estimated 30,000 asylees to Kosovo beginning this summer. This influx of people will overwhelm a system that is ill-prepared to run identity checks to verify that that the returning asylees originated from Kosovo. Neither DCAM nor the MOIA has a plan to manage these returnees, and Kosovo authorities will not have access to foreign criminal records when processing them. What We Are Doing To Help ¶10. (C) Based on our review of Kosovo's border protection institutions, we are recommending to the GOK that they develop an immigration service modeled after our own Customs, Immigration, and Enforcement (DHS/ICE). This type of service would unify the disparate bodies currently managing foreigners, citizenship, and asylum, and it would strengthen Kosovo's capacity to enforce court judgments. Kosovo's current legislative framework on migration and citizenship issues -- with some amendments, perhaps -- allows for this type of arrangement, but the administrative regulations require drafting. ¶11. (C) Through Post's Department of Justice International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (DOJ/ICITAP),we are working with DCAM, the Kosovo Police and the MOIA to analyze the existing organizational structure for managing foreigners and have developed a model for an enforcement-based immigration service. We are evaluating the laws on foreigners, asylum, and citizenship to determine what amendments may be needed to establish the service. In order to focus the MOIA's attention on these issues, we are helping the ministry draft an action plan to manage foreigners, asylum seekers, and returnees. We also want to see the KP, MOIA, DCAM and Border Police develop an integrated and interconnected law enforcement database. Creating this database is a long-term objective; in the interim, the Border Police and DCAM need EULEX's assistance to get access to INTERPOL and EUPOL, an issue that we raise frequently with EULEX Head of Mission Yves de Kermabon. For all of this, and for assistance with drafting administrative regulations, the GOK would benefit from the guidance that an experienced DHS officer can offer. ¶12. (C) ACTION REQUEST: We request immediate assistance to help DCAM draft administrative instructions to implement the laws on foreigners, asylum and immigration and to develop the organizational structure for an immigration service. A current or retired DHS/ICE agent with immigration and citizenship experience would give the GOK the kind of practical knowledge it needs to develop an immigration service in accordance with international best practices. We also need to begin work to develop an information system to ensure connectivity between the KP, DCAM and Border Police. We request immediate assistance in locating an expert to assist Kosovo in developing DCAM and the release of FY 08 funds that will allow us to implement our information technology program to unify records among the Kosovo Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and DCAM. ¶13. (C) COMMENT: We need to ensure that the MOIA will take concrete steps towards developing an effective immigration service and adopt measures to strengthen internal security. We have a narrow window to influence decisions in this sector, and we need to act now. Currently, UNHCR is the only actor operating in this sector and its contributions tend to minimize the role for law enforcement and risk compromising Kosovo's internal security. EULEX and other European actors are not yet fully engaged on this issue, and though we are fully coordinating with EULEX, we do have some concern that ceding this issue solely to European leadership will foster an immigration service that focuses on administrative processes to the detriment of serious security concerns. With the right resources, the Embassy can fill this void and insure that Kosovo develops the capabilities required to protect its borders and prevent it from becoming a porous spot on Europe's periphery. KAIDANOW