Human Rights Watch accuses Hungary of abusing migrants – UPDATE

Budapest, July 13 (MTI) – Hungary’s authorities “summarily force” migrants back to Serbia at the southern border, “in some cases with cruel and violent treatment”, without considering their claims for protection, the international Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Wednesday.

According to the report, the authorities “apply a legal fiction” to people in the transit zones along the border, and claim that “persons in the zone have not yet ‘entered’ Hungary”.

The organisation established that while people belonging to some vulnerable groups are transferred to open facilities, most asylum applications submitted by single men have been promptly rejected since May this year.

“People who cross into Hungary without permission, including women and children, have been viciously beaten and forced back across the border,” said Lydia Gall, HRW’s regional expert.

Transit zones have a restricted capacity, which means that “hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers, including women and children, are stuck in no-man’s land in very poor conditions waiting to enter” those facilities. Migrants attempting to cross the border bypassing the transit zones are “forced back” to Serbia, “often violently, without any consideration of their protection needs”, the report said.

Migrants interviewed by HRW reported that the Hungarian authorities had treated them brutally including beating, using gas spray and setting dogs on them.

or “forcing them through small openings in the razor wire fence, causing further injuries”.

Authors of the report urged the Hungarian state to investigate the incidents and identify perpetrators, whether they are police officers or soldiers, or members of paramilitary organisations.

UPDATE

The interior ministry said in response that HRW’s interpretation of asylum rules was mistaken. In its statement, the ministry said it was shocked to see that “HRW expects the authorities to ignore laws passed by Hungarian parliament that were enacted in line with European norms”. The Hungarian authorities ensure legal entry into Hungary and a legitimate submission of asylum applications, the ministry insisted. The statement also said that while the police have handled nearly 18,000 illegal entrants this year, only eight of them have filed “complaints suggesting police violence”, adding that police investigations found all eight complaints unfounded.

Migrants are not harassed at Hungary’s borders and those in need are ensured a humanitarian treatment, but they are also expected to observe the laws of Hungary and the European Union, the statement said.

Asked to comment on HRW’s report, Lajos Kósa, head of the ruling Fidesz party’s parliamentary group, said the report’s reliability was “completely questionable”, as there is a “clear financial connection between the HRW and (US businessman) George Soros”. He also said HRW was “completely pro-immigration and an extremely biased organisation”.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee also issued a statement on Wednesday criticising the treatment refugees receive in Hungary. The organisation urged the Hungarian state to “do its duty” and investigate who is behind the attacks targeting migrants, “whether they are police, soldiers, or paramilitary vigilantes in gangs,” the statement said.

Source: MTI