Commonground
Senior Moderator
July 17, 2020
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – More than 2,500 Mongolian nationals have been stranded in European countries, including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, since the Mongolian government closed its border to its own citizens in March.
Landlocked between Russia and China, Mongolia became one of the first countries to close its borders in the face of the growing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Mongolians in Europe are in despair. We have no visas, no money, no job, no medical insurance and no support from our government at all,” tells us Oyunaa, who has been stuck in Hungary for more than five months and who created the Facebook group “Mongolians stuck in Europe” (Европид гацсан Монголчууд).
“As far as I know, there are 241 Mongolians in Hungary, 260 in the Czech Republic, 160 in Latvia and Poland, 264 in Germany, 60 in France, 370 in Great Britain, 130 in Sweden, and 80 in Austria and Ireland,” she says, many of them were tourists, attending seminars and workshops, or visiting friends and relatives.
“We are sending many requests to our embassy, government organizations and state commissions to send more flights to Europe to repatriate us but no success,” she says, adding that the government’s limited capacity only allows for two repatriation flights a month.
For Oyunaa, the worst part is that despite the fact that Wizz Air and LOT airlines have agreed to repatriate the stranded Mongolians back home with their own planes, the Mongolian government would still not let them back. “We do not understand why they just cannot accept these offers since Mongolian Airlines does not have capacity to carry all citizens,” she says.
Continued: https://kafkadesk.org/2020/07/17/tho...across-europe/
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – More than 2,500 Mongolian nationals have been stranded in European countries, including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, since the Mongolian government closed its border to its own citizens in March.
Landlocked between Russia and China, Mongolia became one of the first countries to close its borders in the face of the growing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Mongolians in Europe are in despair. We have no visas, no money, no job, no medical insurance and no support from our government at all,” tells us Oyunaa, who has been stuck in Hungary for more than five months and who created the Facebook group “Mongolians stuck in Europe” (Европид гацсан Монголчууд).
“As far as I know, there are 241 Mongolians in Hungary, 260 in the Czech Republic, 160 in Latvia and Poland, 264 in Germany, 60 in France, 370 in Great Britain, 130 in Sweden, and 80 in Austria and Ireland,” she says, many of them were tourists, attending seminars and workshops, or visiting friends and relatives.
“We are sending many requests to our embassy, government organizations and state commissions to send more flights to Europe to repatriate us but no success,” she says, adding that the government’s limited capacity only allows for two repatriation flights a month.
For Oyunaa, the worst part is that despite the fact that Wizz Air and LOT airlines have agreed to repatriate the stranded Mongolians back home with their own planes, the Mongolian government would still not let them back. “We do not understand why they just cannot accept these offers since Mongolian Airlines does not have capacity to carry all citizens,” she says.
Continued: https://kafkadesk.org/2020/07/17/tho...across-europe/