The commission in charge of appeals filed by asylum seekers held its founding session on Tuesday, adopting its rules of procedure and method of work. The commission is chaired by Bojana Pekic and consists of seven members.
Since the new law took effect, the Interior Ministry has received 26 requests for asylum, of which nine have been rejected, four have been suspended because the applicants left Croatia in the meantime, while the rest are being dealt with.
In the last few months, most of the asylum seekers -- seven of them -- have come from Bangladesh, four have come from Serbia and Montenegro, three from the Ivory Coast, three from Turkey, and one each from Russia, Iran, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Commission chairwoman Pekic said at a press conference in Zagreb that her commission consisted of three boards that would decide by a majority of votes at separate meetings on the grounds of appeals filed by asylum seekers. Appellants will be able to attend those meetings and present their views before the commission.
Asylum seekers will be allowed to stay in Croatia until the commission decides on their request, but if their appeal is rejected they will have to leave regardless of their right to file an administrative lawsuit against the commission's decision.
Assistant Interior Minister Zarko Katic said that the Interior Ministry had issued two decrees regulating issues such as the registration and accommodation of asylum seekers. He added that the Health and Welfare Ministry would soon adopt rules defining the amount of financial aid for asylum seekers.
Katic said that the number of requests for asylum had not increased significantly since the Asylum Act took effect, and that 53 requests had been received in the first half of this year.