A/HRC/14/30/Add.2 irregular migration as well as the surveillance and control of border crossing (Emergency Ordinance No. 105 of 2001). 43. Other institutions with the potential to play a key role in the protection of the human rights of migrants are the People’s Advocate; the National Council for combating discrimination; the Romanian Institute for Human Rights; the Senate’s Committee for Human Rights, Cults and Minorities and the Committee for Human Rights, Cults and Minorities from the Chamber of Deputies. 44. In 2004, Romania adopted a National Strategy on Migration, which was abrogated in 2007 with the approval of the National Strategy on Immigration for 2007–2010 which unified policies in the fields of migration, asylum and social integration of aliens, in line with international and European standards. Each year, action plans and activities are devised for the strategy’s implementation. 45. The legal framework for migration governance includes legislation on aliens, asylum-seekers, migrant workers, trafficking in persons and management of irregular migration, including through administrative detention. National policies, plans and programmes on the protection of children have addressed migration-related concerns. 1. The regime applicable to aliens 46. The term “alien” refers to all persons who are not Romanian citizens or citizens of any European Union member State. The aliens’ regime currently applies only to thirdcountry nationals but prior to accession of Romania to the European Union it encompassed any non-Romanian citizen. 47. The Aliens Law of 2002 (republished in 2008) regulates the entry, stay and exit of aliens, including the aliens’ rights and obligations when in Romania, visa requirements, residence permits and leave to remain, the removal and expulsion of aliens, administrative detention (known as public custody), the issuance of travel and identity documents for aliens and the use and protection of aliens’ personal data. 48. The law provides that those intercepted trying to enter Romania irregularly are to be returned to their countries of origin within 24 hours, unless there are reasons preventing deportation; these include appeals to deportation decisions. When there are reasons preventing removal, aliens are accommodated in short-term holding centres, which are detention facilities for aliens under the responsibility of the Romanian Immigration Office. The centre in Otopeni, near Bucharest, can accommodate up to 150 persons and the centre in Arad, near the Hungarian border, up to 25 persons. 49. According to the Aliens’ Law, administrative detention of aliens (known as public custody in the Aliens’ Law) may apply when: (a) the alien cannot be removed from the Romanian territory within the term provided by the law; (b) the alien is issued with an expulsion order following a criminal conviction; (c) the alien is declared undesirable for reasons of national security. While in case (a), it is the prosecutor who decides to place the alien under administrative detention, in cases (b) and (c), it is the court that takes that decision under article 97 of the Aliens’ Law. 50. An alien in administrative detention is released if she/he submits an asylum application (including rejected asylum-seekers who submit a new asylum application if they are granted access to a new asylum procedure in Romania), unless the alien in question has been issued an expulsion order or been declared undesirable. 51. Aliens that are not granted permission to stay in Romania but who cannot be removed from the Romanian territory for objective reasons are granted the status of “person tolerated”. According to the Aliens’ Law, this status is granted by the Romanian Immigration Office in the following circumstances: (a) when an alien in administrative GE.10-12102 11

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