Hungary to close controversial migrant camps in transit zone

Security guards stand near the entrance to the transit area where migrants are housed in containers in Tompa, Hungary, June 14, 2017. REUTERS / Laszlo Balogh

Text by: Florence La Bruyère

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has demanded the release of some 300 asylum seekers staying in Hungarian camps on the border with Serbia. The Court found that the conditions of detention there were unacceptable and that the refugees were "detained without good reason". This Thursday, the Orban government obeyed court orders.

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From our correspondent in Budapest,

Abouzar Soltani is finally free. For the past year and a half, this 37-year-old Iranian artist has been living in a camp in southern Hungary with his 11-year-old boy. Abouzar is a Christian and it was to escape persecution that he fled Iran and arrived in Hungary where he applied for asylum.

But the Hungarian authorities rejected his request without even examining it. They tried to send him back to Serbia, but were refused Belgrade. So they locked Abouzar and his son in a container camp, completely surrounded by barbed wire.

A camp described as inhuman by the Helsinki Committee. This Hungarian NGO defended the case of Abouzar and other refugees before the Court of Justice of the European Union. On May 14, the Court ruled that these camps were like a prison and ordered Budapest to close them.

The Hungarian government has just executed. He transferred some 300 refugees, including many families with children, to reception centers where people can go out freely.

The closure of the camps is a victory for associations such as the Helsinki Committee . Harassed daily by the Hungarian government, they nevertheless continue to defend human rights.

► Read also: Reception of refugees: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have violated EU law

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  • Hungary
  • International Migration
  • Coronavirus
  • Human rights
  • International justice
  • Viktor Orban

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