Temporary Protection of Ukrainian Citizens - Selected Issues

Abstract

The mass influx of refugees from Ukraine to Poland, caused by Russia’s aggression on February 24, 2022, has resulted in the application of solutions in the field of refugee law on a massive, unprecedented scale. Previously developed Polish regulations regarding the rules for granting protection to this category of people turned out to be insufficient, and the legislator decided to immediately develop new solutions for the protection of refugees from Ukraine, which were included in the Act of March 12, 2022 on assistance to citizens of Ukraine in relation to an armed conflict on the territory of that country. The provisions of this legal act constitute lex specialis in relation to the Act of June 13, 2003 on granting protection to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland. The article defines a general outline of the so-called refugee law, also from a historical perspective, and includes an analysis of Polish regulations in the field of granting temporary protection to Ukrainian citizens in relation to the European Union standards. The correctness of such solutions was also evaluated.