Sunday, 8th June 2014, Migszol members returned to the Debrecen refugee camp. The goal of this visit was to get more information about the consequences in the camps, open and closed, after our protest on the 17th May. We heard many alarming stories regarding detention of minors, deportations to Bulgaria, hunger strikes and refugees sewing their lips in protest - but also some good news of friendly and kind social workers and guards. And of course we took some selfies. 

Five Migszol members travelled to Debrecen to talk with refugees and asylum seekers who were happy to see us again. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to socialize with asylum seekers who have recently been released from the Debrecen detention centre. Some of the refugees that talked to Migszol members were those who participated in the protest in May. Our protest took place not long ago, and it’s still too soon to see the effects of it; no changes have been noticed by the people living in the open camp and in the detention centre. We state again that albeit we believe asylum seekers and refugees should not be kept in camps, but while this is the case, we are looking to improvements in reception conditions the camps. 

Detention of minors and lack of legal aid

A 17-year old refugee from Sierra Leone shared his story with us. Before the Migszol protest, he was detained for six months after entering Hungary without a passport. He has many friends in the jail, and recounted experience of the violence asylum seekers encounter almost daily: disagreements with the security come with the risk of physical assault and losing any money that the asylum seeker might have. He was never given a lawyer or social worker. During our interviews with ex-detainees, who were sent to the Debrecen open camp, we realized that the ratio of detainees to social workers in very high. Also communication is often problematic. Furthermore, the fact that in all detention centers state lawyers can only spend five to ten minutes a week with the asylum seekers and the fact that lawyers from Hungarian Helsinki Committee are more present in the camps than state lawyers, show the failure of the Hungarian state to provide legal access to the asylum seekers and refugees in Hungary.

Migrant Solidarity visited the residents of Debrecen camp again on 26th of April. This time we focused on the living conditions in the camp. We are glad to see that every time we visit the camp, more and more people come outside to talk to us - thank you for the hospitality!


Being in correspondence with the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) and having observed its performance, Migszol did not have false hopes for its visit to the Debrecen camp. Nevertheless, we had not expected to see the camp in a far worse condition than our previous visits. Throughout our discussions with refugees and asylum seekers we realized that not only the living conditions have worsened, but also misleading advices ( such as leaving Hungary and seeking asylum in another country) have been told to refugees/asylum seekers directly and indirectly by the social workers and authorities in the camp.

In recent weeks, Migszol started visiting the refugee camp in Debrecen – and, as a part of our outreach strategy, we will continue the visits in the future. We met with many refugees who live inside the camp, and thanks to our diverse MigSzol team, we were able to communicate with people in English, French, Albanian, Farsi and Arabic. This small report is the first of many to come, outlining and sharing our experiences of people who live within the Debrecen camp.

Background of Debrecen camp

The camp is special in many ways. It is not only the largest refugee camp in Hungary, and therefore receives much of the media attention especially from the local Debrecen region media. It also has been the location of anti-camp protests by the supporters of Jobbik, the Hungarian extreme-right political party, and its Magyar Garda paramilitary group.

Most importantly, however, the camp has a very peculiar spatial set up: in the middle of the open camp, there is a detention centre (a prison, in reality, for its inhabitants). Such a set up has a severe psychological effect on all those who are present within the camp: including refugees living within the open camp, refugees detained in it, and even the camp staff and guards.