1.
2.
Posting of bail for the person by an enterprise, institution or organisation;
Imposition of the obligation to post surety bail on the foreigner or the stateless person.
38)
The available alternatives to detention are inadequate and not fit for purpose as a viable model to
protect stateless persons from arbitrary detention. The financial sanctions imposed on guarantors and
high cost of bail further limit the use of these alternatives. Available alternative measures should thus
be expanded and their application simplified. At the very least, a person who may be subjected to
immigration detention should not have a narrower range of alternatives than those available in
criminal proceedings (there are four alternatives to imprisonment23 ).
39)
Ukrainian law provides no alternatives or more lenient sanctions or shorter detention terms for
families with children. The law only sets out that families with children who are being removed, shall
be detained together. The practice of detaining children and the failure to implement alternatives to
detention for children is of significant concern. It is never in the child’s best interests to be detained.
40)
Furthermore, in practice, the principle of separate accommodation of the persons detained on a
gender basis prevails – even with respect to families. The MDC administration accommodates children
with one parent only, and the other is entitled to visit them during specific times. This practice violates
the right to private and family life. According to MDC monitoring data, forty-one children were
detained for immigration reasons in 2015.
41)
Released detainees are entitled to apply for a temporary residence permit. However, it is not easy to
exercise this right, as one of the conditions for the residence permit is compulsory registration of the
place of residence/stay, which is difficult for released detainees. Even those with a temporary
residence permit are not allowed to work or study legally. Detainees released before the termination
of the maximum period (for example, if their removal is impossible) cannot receive a residence permit
at all. This undermines the purpose of the law – to regularise the status of those who cannot be
removed – leaves individuals vulnerable to re-detention and is discriminatory.
Roma Statelessness in Ukraine
42)
The last and only All-Ukrainian Population Census of 2001 reported 47,600 persons who defined their
affiliation to the Roma nationality.24 According to different sources, the current size of the Roma
population in Ukraine ranges between 120,000 and 400,000 persons.25 The Roma constitute one of the
main national minorities with the highest proportion of stateless persons. According to the Report on
the Implementation of State Policy on Roma 2015, by the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Office, the
23
The Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine dated April 13, 2012, available at www.rada.gov.ua
24
The statistics is available at - http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/.
25
Situation Assessment Report on Roma in Ukraine and the Impact of the Current Crisis. - OSCE ODIHR, 2014. – Available at:
https://www.osce.org/odihr/124494?download=true. “ECRI Report on Ukraine (fourth monitoring cycle)” (ECRI Report on Ukraine),
adopted on 8 December 2011. - Available at: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/ecri/Country-by-country/Ukraine/UKR-CbC-IV2012-006-ENG.pdf.; Situation Assessment Report on Roma in Ukraine and the Impact of the Current Crisis. - OSCE ODIHR, 2014. – p.
11. – Available at: https://www.osce.org/odihr/124494?download=true. / ‘However, unofficial sources estimate the number of
Roma to be up to 400,000 persons in country.’ - (9)
Roma Children in Ukraine: Photo Essay. – 2006. - Available at:
https://www.unicef.org/ukraine/media_11430.html.
10