Refugees ‘locked up and strip-searched for money to pay for their own detention’

Refugees are being locked up for up to 90 days and strip-searched for money to pay for their own detention in the Czech Republic, the UN’s human rights chief said on Thursday. Most of the migrants did not know their rights and were unable to exercise them, partly because their mobile phones were taken away when they were detained, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein alleged. They were often destitute on their release after being strip-searched for money to pay the daily cost of 250 Czech crowns ($10.46) for their detention, often in poor conditions, he added. "International law is quite clear that immigration detention must be strictly a measure of last resort,“ he said.

Detaining children on the sole basis of their migration status, or that of their parents, is a violation, is never in their best interests, and is not justifiable

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein

The warning came amid reports that the Czech authorities were locking up many refugees for 40 days and some for as long as 90 days. Human rights violations "appear to be an integral part of a policy by the Czech government designed to deter migrants and refugees from entering the country or staying there,” Mr Hussein added. He also expressed alarm that the detention policy was accompanied by increasingly xenophobic public statements, including Islamophobic remarks by president Miloš Zeman and a public anti-immigration petition launched by former president Václav Klaus. However, Mr Zeman rejected the criticism, claiming his comments were a warning against Islamic fundamentalism.

We will lose women’s beauty because they will be covered head to toe in burqas, with only a fabric net over the face.

One of president Miloš Zeman’s remarks on Islam

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