Category: Migszol Update - Migszol

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Thousands of people are stuck in Serbia, the Hungarian court equates Islam with terrorism

14/11/2016

This is an update on asylum- and migration-related developments in Hungary from October. For the decreased numbers of asylum seekers, see the numbers released by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. For legal information for people waiting in Serbia to enter Hungary to seek asylum, please see this info leaflet. You may also see our FAQ on the border process here.

Situation at the Serbian-Hungarian border
Camps continue to operate below capacity
Hungarian court equates Islam with terrorism
Orbán forced to compromise on constitutional amendments
The annexation of Népszabadság

Situation at the Serbian-Hungarian border

The second part of October saw the continuation of Ahmed H.’s trial, continued militarisation of the borders and the curtailment of the freedom of speech in Hungary. All refugee camps camps and detention centres are functioning below capacity. On a bright note, however, Migszol has uploaded FAQ on the the procedures at the border, available in several languages in here, as well as organised a flashmob in solidarity with Ahmed H. (see more below). In addition, We started a monthly social space, where refugees can get together and talk to us about their problems and ask questions.

60% Hungarian electorate ignores the racist referendum, but situation at the border remains catastrophic

17/10/2016

September was characterized by intense and fierce debates on the stakes, meaning and results of the referendum on the 2nd of October. These debates, vibrant and justified, have also overshadowed the violent push backs at the Hungarian-Serbian border and the show trial of Ahmed H., a Syrian man accused of terrorism.

While tensions run high in Serbia, more and more people are opting to avoid Hungary and cross to Romania instead. In this situation, it is hardly surprising that the open camps in Hungary are functioning well below their capacity (see our latest report from Bicske, destined to be closed in December, in here). Even though there are fewer and fewer people seeking protection, Hungarians have been able to enjoy an ever more omnipresent and pervasive amount of propaganda funded by the taxpayers in Hungary. Hungarians have recently found in their mailboxes flyers informing them that many European capitals and cities are divided between livable areas and no-go zones into which it is too dangerous to enter because of crime coming from immigrants. Many diplomatic bodies have already strongly reacted against such flyers, denying the existence of such “no-go zones,” demanding a response from the Hungarian Foreign Minister. Lazar seems unmoved by such reactions, travelling through the country prior to the elections, telling stories about his travel impressions in Germany, where he concluded that Turkish migrant children “have no intention to learn German.”
Another chilling attempt to create a fake enemy is the the recent high-quality propaganda video on Viktor Orbán’s personal webpage, complete with fake blood and images of “dead” Hungarian people during a “counter-terrorism drill”. We can only be astounded by the sick violent fantasizing of Viktor Orbán and his government. Set as a response to a potential terrorist attack in the public space, it shows a bunch of angry men dressed in Robocop suits and frowning at imaginary enemies, while Orban enters the scene with a preoccupied look, dressed up for the occasion, giving stern handshakes to his men about to enter this imaginary battle. If it weren’t another serious stage in this government’s securitization of people’s movement across borders, it would be a spectacle of absurd comedy seeing these unnecessarily angry men chasing imaginary enemies. As it is, this mock anti-terrorist attack is part of a larger and more lethal spectacle of insecurity, in line with the ongoing militarization of the borders, patrolled by soldiers and policemen. And the government is planning to recruit even more people for border policing! Added to this is the day in day out security rhetoric of many government representatives naming in one breath migration and terrorist threats in Europe, or Fidesz’ recent declarations on the role of Hungary as the last frontier to European (Christian) civilization. In this context, the military drill in a Budapest metro station is a security move that further crystallizes the attempt to criminalize asylum and protection demands from people on the move.

Contrary to what many people in western Europe might think, Hungary is not full of supporters of Viktor Orbán or Jobbik, and there are tons of exciting things going on. First of all, on October 2nd, 60% of the Hungarian electorate ignored the propaganda machine of Fidesz and did not bother to even show up at the racist referendum. The referendum result, therefore, is invalid - although Orbán already said on the night of the elections that he would look into changing the constitution, despite its invalidity, to nevertheless transform the law as planned if the referendum were valid.

People protesting against the referendum, 30th September. Photo by István Huszti / Index

Out of sight, out of mind? Violence continues on the anniversary of the Hungarian-Serbian border closure - Migszol Update August 5th -September 5th

15/9/2016

This is a Migszol update from 5 August to 5 September. The month has been characterized by increasingly ruthless violence at the Serbian-Hungarian border, ever-growing aggressive propaganda against migrants of all kinds now that the national referendum is drawing closer, and the heated international relations between European states because of the insecure EU-Turkey deal.

Before we begin, it is important to notice that a year ago we were living through a very significant time. It is the anniversary time of what we learnt to call “the migration crisis in Hungary” in 2015.

The catastrophic consequences of the 8km law and violence at the Hungarian-Serbian border - Migszol update July 4th - August 4th

6/8/2016

This is a Migszol update on the general asylum situation in Hungary between 4th July - 4th August 2016. For information for people seeking asylum, please see the information provided by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee in here.

The 8km law and violence on the border
Escalating situation on the transit zone
Continuous protests in the detention centers and emptying camps
Propaganda and conspiracy theories

The 8km law and violence on the border

The 8km law, that we wrote about earlier, took effect on the 5th of July. According to the legislation, anyone who is caught within 8m on the Hungarian side of the border fence may be “escorted” back to the Serbian side of the fence. This legalizes the pushbacks of people to the Serbian side and severely restricts people’s right to seek asylum. In practice, those caught and pushed back are not given a chance to ask for asylum, which is contrary to international law. We find it cruelly ironic that at the same time the Fidesz government claims that the border fence is working, the Hungarian authorities are cutting holes to this fence in order to push people back to the Serbian side. The results of the law have been catastrophic: the number of people waiting at the transit zone to apply for asylum at the border has doubled. There is no legal help available, civilian volunteers and activists have limited access, and the living conditions are abysmal, as this video from Migszol Szeged also shows.

Why are Hungarian border guards practicing shooting to kill? (Migszol update from Hungary, 20 June - 4 July)

4/7/2016

There main issues from the last two weeks which we would like to highlight include the political trials in Szeged in which people are accused of either terrorism or then of illegal crossing of the Hungarian border during a mass riot, the violent pushbacks on the Hungarian-Serbian border and the violence of informal gangs, the opening of a new open refugee camp has been opened in Kiskunhalas in Southern Hungary, and the border guard competition was held in eastern Hungary. Before we examine all these in detail, there are some other political and general updates we would like to share.

Political developments
Austrian-Hungarian cooperation
Movement and smugglers
Political show trials in Szeged
Violent pushbacks at the Serbian border
Border guards’ shooting practice
New open camp in Kiskunhalas

Political developments

The Hungarian Minister of the Cabinet, János Lázár, continues to lobby for resuming Dublin deportations to Greece. In willful ignorance of the European Court of Human Rights-ruling that ruled against deportations to Greece, Lázár claims Dublin deportations to Hungary are “illegal” and that instead of Hungary, people should be deported back to Greece. He discloses that other member states want to deport up to 45 000 people back to Hungary.

Hungarian prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether police can be held criminally responsible for abuse over the death of a Syrian man who drowned in the Tisza river as he was trying to cross into Hungary from Serbia in June. His brother, who was travelling with him declared that the police force, who spotted them while making the attempt to cross the river, didn’t allow them to reach the shore. The police officially denies this accusation and an investigation is ongoing.

Hungarian policewoman shooting on target on June 24th. Picture: police.hu

The new 8km law allows to push back people to the Serbian side of the fence (Migszol Update 10 - 20th June)

22/6/2016

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has published new info leaflets for asylum seekers in Hungary (available in 10 languages here).

Quick overview of recent events
A new amendment of the law allows the police to ‘escort’ all refugees that are caught within 8km of the fence to the ‘no man’s land’ at the other side of the fence where they have to wait for days and weeks in inhumane conditions and almost no legal counselling. A new transit zone is opened in Àsotthalom. The conditions in the detention centers remain very bad, especially from Kiskunhalas immigration detention people report dirty facilities, lack of food and to be denied contact with their families. In the meantime there are trials against refugees who are accused of ‘vandalism’ going on (see the Migszol event on coming Friday, June 24th, regarding the political trials of riots in Roszke in Autumn 2015, in here.)

In between June 10 and June 20th there have been 1362 people who were caught crossing the border illegally to Hungary

New law to legalize push backs of refugees

In early June, after the law that abolished the integration contract, there has been new small but very severe and significant change in the Hungarian asylum law. The new amendment to the asylum act, that is to be signed by the President, outlines that whoever enters irregularly to Hungary and will be caught within 8 kilometers of either the Croatian or Serbian border will be “escorted back to the transit zones” by the police. As the Helsinki Committee declares, the people waiting in the pre-transit area are queueing for days and weeks, without being provided with tents, access to toilet or even water.
Bakondi György, the chief security advisor to the Prime Minister, declared that the most recent legal change in the asylum system will strengthen the measures in place, such as the barbed wire fence. In this limbo area, there is very high uncertainty about the fate of people who cannot return to Serbia but cannot move on to any other destination. According to the governmental chief security advisor, this measure will ease the pressure put on the existing camps and will stop “illegal immigrants” from staying in Hungary. We argue that the “pressure” accused by Bakondi has different causes – in the last months, a number of open camps have been closed (Debrecen, with the biggest capacity, being the most infamous case) and the basic services and reception conditions in some of the remaining camps are severely limited. The difficulties in accommodating people in open facilities is government-made and it is caused by its refusal to provide basic services to those few allowed inside such facilities.

The political and legal limbo situation of people at the border is made even more serious by the ambiguous relation between Hungary and Serbia. Serbia recently asked an explanation from Hungary regarding the new modification in law ordering the deportation of refugees back to Serbia via the transit zone which in reality belongs to Hungary. Serbian government declared that they will not take anybody back. In the meantime, the people “escorted” by the police back to the border know very little about the legal provisions that the government adopted to keep people out of Hungary and limit the number of applications for legal recognition. There is not legal aid provided by the government, and the only independent source of legal assistance in transit zones, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, has limited access and capacity to deal with each case. For instance, in the process of application in transit zones the right to appeal an order of expulsion must be exercised within a few days. While only a few dozen people are allowed to make an application everyday, many more are waiting in makeshift camps without extremely limited access to basic services of food, water, medicine. There are no sanitary facilities nor shelter for people to sleep or protect from the weather etc, while Hungary allows only 30 people per day through the transit zones.

For a summary of the last legal changes that further destroy access to protection for refugees and asylum seekers in Hungary we recommend you to look at this recent update from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

Death at the Serbian-Hungarian border and demonstrations in detention centers (Migszol update from Hungary, May 25 - June 9)

9/6/2016

People in the Bekescsaba asylum detention centre protesting on June 6, photo from HirTV

This is an overview of recent developments in Hungary between May 25 and June 9th, 2016.

People in Kormend need to travel 500 kilometres to meet their case officer

In May the new tent camp in Kormend was opened, and just like we thought, people keep on disappearing from there. As expected,the conditions in the camp are very problematic. Access to legal aid or proper case officers is very limited, and the biggest problem is lack of information. We are especially worried of the fact that some people who are staying in Kormend need to travel to Debrecen, a distance of nearly 500 kilometres and a 9-hour travel by public transportation, to meet their case officers and attend the court hearing regarding their asylum case. In such absurd cases, the immigration authorities does not provide them with accommodation to stay overnight in Budapest.

Conditions in Körmend are bad, much like in Bicske and Nagyfa in previous years, with the tents being simply inadequate without a proper floor or mattresses. There is a doctor at Körmend, some people, however, have no information of where they can meet him, though others do. One of our chief concerns is that in Körmend as well as elsewhere, the quality of food has not only went down but also become severely limited, as people are simply not served dinner anymore. This is very serious concerning the fact that according to the new legislation, people are neither entitled to weekly cash allowance. Coffee, cigarettes, dinner, utilities for small babies, etc., all have to be financed by people themselves: if someone loses all money to e.g. in a robbery, there is nothing to do. The arbitrary decision making about detention, especially in the case of Afghans, is not only clear from this article by ABCúg that interviews previous OIN-workers, but also from the experiences of detained people.

During the week, Hungarian government representatives have confirmed their intention to close the now largest open refugee camp in the country, Bicske. There is no final date for the planned closure.

Death at the border

In early June the police on the Tisza river on the border of Hungary and Serbia saw two men swimming across the river to Hungary. Upon seeing the police, they turned back, but only one of them reached the shore. On June third, the body of the second man was found. There are conflicting reports about the nationality of the man, presumably Iraqi or Syrian, 22-year old person seeking international protection in Hungary.

During the morning, the Hungarian police picked up an Iraqi family of five people from the water, where the 2-3 year old toddler was close to hypothermia. The mother and the three children were brought to a hospital, while the father was taken for criminal investigation. We are deeply disturbed by these photos and videos published by the Hngarian police, where police visits the family in the hospital giving them presents - and would like to remind that the only reason why the family was forced into this desperate solution is because of the extreme difficulty of accessing Hungarian territory to seek asylum. Also UNHCR has severely condemned the treatment of people in border areas. UNHCR and other organizations such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee are documenting numerous stories of Hungarian police violence and push-backs at the Hungarian border.

Number of people waiting at the transit zone is rising

16 612 (as of May 22nd) people have crossed the fence during 2016, and there have been 17 000 asylum requests lodged in the country A humanitarian crisis is evolving in the transit zones, where the policy of letting in only 20-30 people per day continues. UNHCR, HCIT and MSF are present on the Serbian side. Unfortunately it was reported that MSF could not work for few days. This was very worrying when most of the people waiting on the Serbian side are part of vulnerable groups including many sick people and children. The access on the Hungarian side is very limited only to SOS Children village, UNHCR and the HHC. However the Hungarian government announced that they have has given money to the following Hun charities for working on the border: Hungarian Maltese Charity, the Catholic Caritas, the Hungarian Reformed Church Charity, the Hungarian Ecumenical Charity and the Hungarian Red Cross. It is not clear when they will start.
At the end of the month, the chief security advisor to Viktor Orbán, György Bakondi, stated that a third zone might be set up near the village of Ásotthalom with the notoriously racist Mayor who prepared a refugee-hunting video in 2015. Bakondi also stated earlier that there might be a new legislation according to which anyone caught within 8 kilometres of the border fence will be brought back to the transit zone. A draft text of this legislation has not been circulated.

Protests in the detention centers

In the last few weeks, there have been several protests in the different detention centers in the country. In the national media, the protests were immediately branded as very dangerous and unacceptable, and a security “experts” were comparing the situation to “war, where one side is not respecting the law”. Riots happened in Kiskunhalas, of which we also wrote about at length, and in Bekescsaba in the southeastern border of Hungary. In addition, a fight between two men was stopped by pepper spray in the detention center in Nyirbator. We are in daily touch with people detained and with relatives and friends of those detained, and we are extremely worried of the situation with detention, leading to desperation and hopelessness. Many of those detained were caught on their way to Austria and detained after that. That said, more than 10 000 people have disappeared from Hungary towards the West during 2016.

End of all integration support

May 2016 was the last month of the previous asylum legislation, with substantive changes taking effect from Wednesday, 1st of June: there are substantial changes to the status of humanitarian protection, all integration support for recognized refugees has been abolished, and similarly to Austria, there will be a 3-year automatic review on the Convention refugee status and for the subsidiary protection status. Refugees are now expected to take advantage of the same social support available for Hungarians: in practice, this means becoming homeless along tens of thousands of Hungarians, and ending up in a domestic registration system that effectively bars refugees from applying for Hungarian citizenship in the future. We would like to further note that homelessness has been criminalized in the Hungarian constitution, and that for it is almost impossible for families to enter the Hungarian homeless shelter-system. We urge all other European Union member states to immediately stop all Dublin deportations to Hungary. In addition, we urge all member states to stop the deportation of people who already have a refugee status in Hungary, but are now seeking to stay in other EU countries.

Planned legislation would return people to the transit zone, and arbitrary decision-making at the Immigration Office: Hungary updates May 18th - May 24th

25/5/2016

With our first and second situation update, we have started a series of documentation in which we report every other week about the asylum situation in Hungary. The information either comes from us, or then we collect information from people working in the ground about camps, detention centers, transit zones and the border areas and make relevant up to date information available in English.

Overview on the Balkan route and numbers

This week a lot of changes have taken place along the Balkan route. While the EU-Turkey deal got blocked by Greece as Greek courts decided Turkey is not a safe country for refugees, and the evacuation of thousands of people in Eidomeni by Greek authorities has started, Bulgaria is planning to build more fence on its border with Greece and Turkey to limit the entry of asylum seekers. The number of people continuing to arrive in Serbia - where supporting infrastructure is urgently needed - and travelling on to Hungary is growing. According to the Hungarian border police 776 people were registered to enter into Hungary under the fence, and were apprehended between May 18th and 23th. UNHCR estimates the number of people entering Hungary from 18th to 22nd at around 772 people in total. For Austria, up to date information on the numbers is unfortunately not available. In comparison to the last weeks this means that the numbers are rising.

Updates on the asylum and migration situation in Hungary: May 6th - May 18th

18/5/2016

As mentioned in our first situation update, one of the ways we at MigSzol can influence the current situation is through documentation. Many people are still passing through Hungary every day, and recently the importance of Hungary as a transit country has been increasing again: there are many things happening at both the Serbian and the Austrian borders and the situation is changing quickly. Even though most of the camps are full (and often overcrowded), there is very little information about the conditions there available.

Most importantly, see here for the information leaflet prepared by the Hungarian Helsinki committee. It is available in ten languages, and we would like to stress that the HHC is the number one source for updates on the legal situation of people on the move. We also recommend you to follow the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (@hhc_helsinki) and Migszol Csoport (@migszolcsop) on Twitter. We also recommend the new report on the general situation of Hungary as a country of asylum, published by UNHCR in May 2016.

Overview and numbers

While there are record number of people crossing into Europe again via the Mediterranean, we would like to note that the Balkan route has practically not been closed. The number of people coming through the route is much less than in 2015, but there is a still a very severe situation. Serbia is the nodal point for people on the Balkan route, and as the border between Croatia and Serbia remains closed for people seeking protection, the only possibility they have is to enter to Hungary. Because the number of people who are allowed to seek asylum in the official transit zone is very limited, many people continue crossing the border fence. Subsequently, people are either transported to open camps in Hungary, to asylum or immigration detention centers (depending on whether they ask for asylum or not). Those people who manage to apply for asylum in the transit zone either have an inadmissibility decision based on the fact that Serbia is a safe third country and are expelled from Hungary, or then they are considered vulnerable and transferred to open camps or detention centers in Hungary. We have testimonies for cases in which people have been beaten up, robbed and pushed back at Hungarian-Serbian border. For details of what happens in the border, we recommend the aforementioned UNHCR report. Open camps in Hungary are severely overcrowded. In the camps and detention centers the conditions remain very bad. People report that they are overcrowded and that the access to legal support is extremely limited, if not non existent. In some cases, people we speak to are reporting that they are not told of access to lawyers even though there are lawyers present. Also the general and legal situation in Hungary worsens even more: a bill has been passed that tightens the material conditions of refugees extremely as outlined by Migszol earlier, the referendum about the acceptance of the EU quota system will take place in early autumn, the right-wing propaganda continues and disproportionate/illegal punishments and trials for refugees accused of starting a riot in Roszke in 2015 are still happening.

There are ca. 290 people on a daily basis at the transit zones., while 491 people were registered to enter illegally into Hungary and were apprehended in Hungary in between May 6th and 12th according to the border police.1330 people arrived in Austria in between May 6th and 12th according to UNHCR, and in the meanwhile Austria is planning an extremely tight asylum legislation that will most likely have severe effects on Hungary as well.