EU court censures Hungary over migrant detentions

Migrants at Hungary border fence, 2015 file pic
Hungary’s treatment of asylum seekers has been widely condemned
The EU’s top court has ruled that Hungary’s arbitrary detention of asylum seekers in border zones is illegal.

The binding judgment came as EU politicians criticised Hungary’s state of emergency law, under which police have questioned more than 100 people over alleged coronavirus “fake news”.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban refused to attend Thursday’s European Parliament debate on Hungary.

Nearly 300 people are held in transit zones on the Hungary-Serbia border.

The BBC’s Nick Thorpe in Budapest says the EU Court of Justice ruling paves the way for those asylum seekers – nearly half of them children – to be released, as the ECJ ruling means Hungary must devise new asylum rules.

Two families – from Afghanistan and Iran – sued the nationalist Hungarian government at the ECJ, and they will have to be released, our correspondent says.

Of those detained in the two transit zones, 120 have spent more than a year there.

Hungarian troops patrol a barbed-wire fence on the southern border, erected to keep migrants out.

‘I made my film Fish to keep my son’s dreams alive’

Erno Simon of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the long-term detention of children and other vulnerable people in those transit zones was “completely unacceptable and inhuman”.

The Orban government refuses to accept asylum seekers from non-EU countries, resisting pressure from EU partners such as Italy and Greece for burden-sharing. The crisis triggered by a surge of migration in 2015 has still not been resolved, as many migrant camps are overcrowded and squalid.

Many of the migrants in 2015 were Syrians, Afghans or Iraqis fleeing conflict. In recent years many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have also risked their lives to reach the EU.

The Iranians in the court case are Abouzar Soltani and his 11-year-old son Armin. Abouzar said he was “very happy” with the ECJ ruling.

“For the past three years I have not been able to love Hungary with all my heart, because I was afraid of the law. But for some time now, with all my heart, I consider Hungary as my own country.”

Concern about Orban powers

MEPs voiced concern on Thursday over Mr Orban’s emergency law, passed on 30 March, granting him power to rule by decree indefinitely during the coronavirus crisis.

The law envisages prison terms of up to five years for “spreading false or misleading information before a broad public” about the virus or the authorities’ response to the pandemic.

EU Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova tweeted that “in Hungary, the emergency powers granted appear more extensive than in other member states” and “the Commission will be very vigilant on how emergency measures which affect democratic values are phased out in the member states”.

What were the ECJ’s grounds for the ruling?

Keeping the asylum seekers in the transit zones is “detention”, the ECJ says, “amounting to a deprivation of liberty” because they cannot legally enter Hungary or return to Serbia.

Concerning the two families who sued, the ECJ says Hungary rejected their asylum claims and Serbia refused to readmit them.

But under EU asylum law, the ECJ argues, 18 months is the maximum that anyone can be detained who is subject to a “return” decision by the authorities.

People seeking international protection in the EU can be kept at a country’s border, but after four weeks maximum a member state must rehouse them on its territory.

The ECJ also says that if such an applicant has no means of subsistence, he or she has a right to financial support to get accommodation.

What now for these asylum seekers?

It is now up to a court in Szeged, Hungary, to issue a new ruling on the two detained families, which must conform to the ECJ verdict.

Lawyer Barbara Poharnok, representing them, said Hungary must now release all those detained illegally in the transit zones.

“If this is not done, we will make sure that courts compel them to do so,” said the lawyer from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

Read More

Categories

  • 16

    At-Home

  • 29

    Business

  • 176

    COVID-19 / Coronavirus

  • 370

    Economy

  • 5

    Education

  • 43

    Entertainment

  • 33

    Environment

  • 9

    Family

  • 0

    FAQ

  • 80

    Frontline Heroes

  • 25

    Government

  • 49

    Handwash Challenge

  • 45

    Healthcare

  • 5

    In Memory Of

  • 4

    Law Enforcement

  • 4

    Medical Equipment

  • 4

    Mental Health

  • 2

    Military

  • 108

    Pandemic

  • 0

    Personal Care

  • 94

    Politics

  • 10

    PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

  • 33

    Quarantine / Lockdown

  • 13

    Quarantine Art

  • 69

    Quarantivities

  • 1

    Receipes

  • 0

    Relationships

  • 52

    Religion

  • 43

    Safety Tips

  • 10

    Science

  • 129

    Shelter-In-Place

  • 17

    Silver Linings

  • 190

    Social Distancing

  • 6

    Social Justice

  • 1209

    Sports

  • 100

    Technology

  • 887

    Toilet Paper Times

  • 32

    TPT Lexicon

  • 2

    Wildlife

  • 154

    Worldwide

  • TP Times
  • Recent
  • Popular
Mexican rave: the 10 best tequila cocktails – chosen by experts
Quarantivities

Mexican rave: the 10 best tequila cocktails – chosen by experts

  • By  The Toilet Paper Times
A 10-year-old girl has sent more than 1,500 art kits to kids in foster care and homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic
Quarantivities

A 10-year-old girl has sent more than 1,500 art kits to kids in foster care and homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic

  • By  usa
Mississippi’s Twisted Sisters: TikTok videos during coronavirus go viral
Quarantivities

Mississippi’s Twisted Sisters: TikTok videos during coronavirus go viral

  • By  The Toilet Paper Times
What the Hell Happened This Week? | The Daily Social Distancing Show
Entertainment Quarantivities Social Distancing

What the Hell Happened This Week? | The Daily Social Distancing Show

  • By  video
Coronavirus Update (Live): 99,112,939 Cases and 2,125,106 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic
Toilet Paper Times

Coronavirus Update (Live): 99,112,939 Cases and 2,125,106 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic

  • By  usa
Meghan Markle Speaks with Young Victim
Social Justice

Meghan Markle Speaks with Young Victim

  • By  thetoiletpapertimes@gmail.com
Princess Diana Would Have Been Fighting Institutional Racism
Social Justice

Princess Diana Would Have Been Fighting Institutional Racism

  • By  Gary Schwartz
North Carolina Still Can't Race
Social Distancing Sports

North Carolina Still Can’t Race | Waiting for Judge to Rule

  • By  Gary Schwartz
OCT. 26: DISCUSSING NEPAL WHILE EATING TOILET PAPER
Toilet Paper Times

OCT. 26: DISCUSSING NEPAL WHILE EATING TOILET PAPER

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
How to hang toilet paper
Toilet Paper Times

How to hang toilet paper

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest
Toilet Paper Times

Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest
Toilet Paper Times

Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest

  • By  Toy Le Trolle

Tags

activities air pollution Amazon Australia bidet Bundesliga canada China climate change deaths death toll disinfectant English Premier League Europe France funny Germany hydroxychloroquine India Italy Japan kids lockdown Lysol masks New York NYC oil industry ppe prayer quarantine shortages soccer songs Spain stats texas Toilet Paper Trump uk unemployment United Kingdom United States W.H.O. White House briefing