Commissioner for Human Rights says Hungary is not in compliance with international and European human rights standards
The Council of Europe reported today that its Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, has warned that asylum seekers returned to Hungary run a considerable risk of being subject to human rights violations.
The Commissioner visited Hungary from 24 to 27 November 2015.
In written observations submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, the Commissioner stressed that in recent months a considerable proportion of those returned to Hungary under the Dublin III Regulation were detained in asylum detention centres - where a restrictive detention regime applies - without real access to effective remedies against such detention.
You can read the Commissioner's written observations here.
The Commissioner also noted that asylum seekers returned to Hungary under the Dublin III Regulation are exposed to a very high risk of being subject to deportation to Serbia, as Hungary considers Serbia a safe third country.
The Commissioner concludes in the written observations:
"- The current asylum law and practice in Hungary are not in compliance with international and European human rights standards. At the moment, virtually nobody can access international protection in Hungary. The asylum procedure is too expedited and lacks essential safeguards; the use of asylum detention and the detention conditions are problematic; and the general negative climate against migrants fostered by the authorities is not conducive to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Hungarian society. All of the above has a serious negative impact on the conditions of reception of Dublin returnees.
"- A considerable proportion of those returned to Hungary under the Dublin III Regulation are currently detained. The detention regime is very restrictive, a circumstance which the Commissioner considers cannot be reconciled with the fact that asylum seekers are not criminals and should not be treated as such. The material conditions of detention are also reported to be substandard. Furthermore, the remedies available to challenge detention cannot, in the Commissioner's view, be considered effective.
"- Due to the introduction of the rule according to which Serbia is to be considered as a safe third country, persons currently returned to Hungary under the Dublin III Regulation do not, as a rule, have their asylum application examined on the merits by the Hungarian authorities, contrary to the latter's international obligations in matters of asylum. As a result, Dublin returnees to Hungary are exposed to a very high risk of being subject to deportation to Serbia and to onward chain refoulement, with the corresponding risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights."
The Commissioner earlier said in November that Hungary had rendered access to international protection extremely difficult and had unjustifiably criminalised immigrants and asylum seekers.
"Migrants and asylum seekers are not criminals and should never be treated as such" the Commissioner said.