Hungary well-prepared to care for migrants from vulnerable groups, says official

Budapest, July 28 (MTI) – Hungary is well-prepared to care for migrants belonging to vulnerable groups, including families, unaccompanied minors and people with disabilities, the state secretary for social affairs and social cohesion said on Thursday.

With no EU funds available for the purpose, the related investments had to be financed from domestic resources, Károly Czibere told a press conference at the Röszke transit zone on the Serbian border. Over the past 12 months, the government spent 700 million forints (EUR 2.24m) on caring for unaccompanied minors. The capacity of a reception facility for minors in Fót near Budapest has been expanded from 34 to 200, the number of guardians and staff working with minors has been significantly increased and administrative deadlines shortened, he added.

Last year, 8,804 unaccompanied minors arrived in Hungary. Almost all of them were males, 90 percent came from Afghanistan and a significant portion was older than 16 years. This year, a few hundred minors arrived and only two of them were younger than 14, Czibere said.

Last year Hungary applied to the EU refugee fund for 3.5 billion forints worth of support to finance upgrading the network serving vulnerable groups but Brussels rejected the request arguing that there is no refugee crisis in Hungary, he added.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI