Problems with the Hungarian refugee system

Gottfried Köhner, the UN High Commission for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Central European  representative announced that there are serious problems with the Hungarian refugee system. The critique was presented at a press conference last week. One of the concern of Mr Köhner was that in Hungary, the standard procedure is to keep political asylum seekers in detention together with illegal migrants.

More importantly, the UN report in the topic reveals not only that the asylum seekers are often detained without explanation, but also that they are reportedly beaten by the guards – an issue understandably disapproved by the UN. Furthermore, Mr Köhner explained that the Hungarian authorities often send asylum seekers back to the country from which they crossed the Hungarian border without considering that it might not be safe. For example in the case of Serbia, returned asylum seekers are often sent back to third countries in which there is no reliable authority to deal with them.

The reason why this situation could emerge is probably the ongoing struggle against illegal migration on behalf of the authorities. It is often problematic to make a distinction between illegal immigrants without valid documents and refugees who travel without a passport or visa because they had to leave their home in a hurry, or their home country doesn’t provide them with the required documents in the first place. Mostly as a result of the mistreatments, the number of asylum seekers in Hungary dropped drastically in the past two years: in 2011, 1 693 people were registered, while the 2009 figures were above 4 000.

Gyulai Gábor of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights added in an interview he gave to the news portal Stop.hu that there is only one other country (Greece) which previously recieved such a harsh criticism from the UN. Zsuzsanna Végh , the Immigration and Citizenship Office director of Hungary said in response that the Hungarian refugee system fully complies with EU norms, both as regards regulations and accommodation.