Rights of asylum seekers trampled in Hungary, EU judge observes

June 25, 2020   

(Courthouse News) An EU magistrate condemned Hungary’s refugee policies Thursday, detailing a system where immigrants are made to sleep in shipping containers on the border for months while seeking asylum.

Under the EU’s Reception Conditions Directive, people claiming asylum must have access to basic necessities while they await a determination, and they cannot be held in indefinite detention.

Those seeking asylum in Hungary, however, are sent to transit zones in the south, along the border with Serbia, unable to even enter the country without enduring a wait of up to 18 months. Because Serbia denies them re-entry, asylum seekers wind up sleeping in shipping containers Hungary has set up in the transit zones. Access to food and medical care there is restricted. Serbia, it should be noted, has been seeking accession to the EU for at least a decade.

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