The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently ruled that Hungary’s long-term detainment of migrants in the Röszke transit zone is unlawful. Tensions between the E.U. and the Hungarian government concerning the country’s immigration policies have left its national security in a state of uncertainty.
On May 14, the CJEU ruled that it was illegal for Hungary to detain Iranian and Afghan migrants in the Röszke transit zone, requiring the country to dismantle its transit zones indefinitely. The CJEU found that conditions in the transit zone deprived migrants of their liberties as they were unable to lawfully leave of their own free will.
Hungarian officials maintain the government’s official position that migrants were not deprived of their liberties in the Röszke transit zone at the Serbian-Hungarian border and, therefore, were not illegally detained.
Chief security officer for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, György Bakondi, told channel M1 that the dismantling of transit zones would threaten the country’s national security and public health citing concerns over the of COVID-19 pandemic.
In accordance with Directive 2011/95/EU, E.U. Member States must decide whether or not to admit an applicant for international protection within four weeks upon arrival. Countries that fail to reach a decision are then required to grant the asylum applicants the right to enter their territories where the applications can then be processed under appropriate civil law procedures.
Hungary failed to decide within the allotted time frame and fulfill the latter portion of the Directive.
Hungarian law determined that the migrants’ applications were inadmissible under the pretense that they arrived from Serbia – a safe third country. Serbia refused to readmit the migrants citing that Hungary failed to meet the conditions outlined by the E.U. readmission agreement. Any attempt made by the migrants to leave the transit zone would have resulted in penalties by Serbian authorities and the possible loss of refugee status in Hungary.
A few days after the CJEU ruling, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyas, announced that the Hungarian government would comply and effectively close down its transit zones. Asylum seekers are now required to submit their applications to Hungary via foreign missions.
“The government does not agree with the court’s decision, which it considers to be risky and damaging in terms of Europe’s security,” said Gulyas.
The Hungarian government is determining how to prepare for the impending security threat of more than 130,000 migrants on the Balkan route that officials say are likely infected by the pandemic.
The CJEU’s decision opposes last year’s ruling by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, an institution that is not related to the E.U., over a case concerning Bangladeshi nationals who were expelled from Hungary to Serbia. The Grand Chamber found no violation of living conditions in the Röszke transit zone and rejected a 2017 ruling by the Chamber that found the applicants’ detention unlawful.
Hungary’s Justice Minister Judit Varga agreed with the ECHR ruling that detaining migrants in the country’s transit zones is lawful and stressed that the country had provided humane treatment to its asylum seekers.
In the same case, the ECHR did find that Hungary violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights by expelling the migrants to Serbia. The Hungarian government did not guarantee the protection of the migrants from “chain-refoulement” – resulting in the possible subjugation to “inhuman or degrading treatment” upon expulsion to other countries.
Minister Varga has stated that the separate rulings from the ECHR and the CJEU conflict and that, “.. the CJEU judgment meant Hungary should be obliged to receive migrants unmanageably.”
The Hungarian government has now outlined plans to relocate the four migrants currently being held in detention, and an additional 280 migrants will be moved to the refugee reception center.
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