Helsinki File: Transit zone

Transit zones have been shut down for 3.5 years in Hungary, but this cruel detention regime has not disappeared without a trace and is still haunting the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Yesterday, the number of its judgments in which asylum seeker applicants won against Hungary, all successfully represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, rose to ten.

The transit zones have been shut down for three and a half years, but this cruel detention regime did not disappear without a trace, still haunting the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On … Read more

The state must not abandon victims of police ill-treatment, even if they are collectively expelled foreigners. Nor can it grant impunity to abusers in uniform, a Strasbourg Court judgment confirmed yesterday. Hungarian police officers had … Read more

The Hungarian state violated the human rights of three Syrian refugees – the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared on December 15. The Hungarian authorities expelled them without properly examining their asylum applications or … Read more

Today the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgement in the case of an Iranian-Afghan family who were held in the transit zone for the entire duration of their asylum procedure in 2017 and released only upon being granted international protection.

Since, the European Commission has launched five asylum-related infringement procedures against Hungary, which were primarily based on the information and complaints submitted by the HHC and reflect the HHC’s position. You can find a list of … Read more

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention cannot accept that an individual who either must agree to remain in the transit zone or lose the possibility of lodging an asylum application could be described as freely consenting to stay in the transit zone.

This information update shows how the broad consensus by international organisations that qualifies placement in the transit zones of Hungary as deprivation of liberty has emerged. The update compiles a list of key judgments, adopted … Read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its judgment today in the joint cases concerning two asylum-seeking families held in the transit zone in Röszke, at the Hungarian-Serbian border. The applicants are … Read more

Budapest, 23 April 2020 — The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered his opinion in the joint cases concerning two asylum-seeking families held in one of the transit … Read more

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (GC) delivered its judgment in the case of Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary on 21 November 2019. In its judgment the GC affirmed the Chamber’s … Read more

Ilias and Ahmed, clients of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, have been granted EUR 5,000 each as a compensation of their non-pecuniary damages by the European Court of Human Rights. Their human rights have been violated … Read more

Exactly one year ago, amendments to the Hungarian asylum system came into force that drastically reduced the chances of genuine asylum-seekers to receive protection by fundamentally altering the asylum procedure. This past year saw threats … Read more

Hungary started to deprive of food some third-country nationals detained in the transit zones started in August 2018. After 5 such cases successfully challenged by the HHC with obtaining interim measures from the European Court … Read more

In February 2019, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) along with several partner organisations, including the Global Detention Project (GDP), launched the final report of their joint initiative, the Red Line detention project, whose objective is to document and raise awareness of how … Read more

On 15 March, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) again had to issue an emergency decision and order the Hungarian government to give food to migrants in detention in the transit zone at the … Read more

This research explores how Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Italy undermine the right to liberty of asylum seekers upon entry. Besides thoroughly documenting the worrisome trend towards de facto detention, it provides EU organs with the … Read more

The Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office (IAO) ignored the instructions of domestic courts regarding the placement of applicants in facilities other than the transit zones on several occasions. The IAO also continues its practice of … Read more

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee gave oral and written statements on the situation in Hungary at the 2018 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). On 12 September … Read more

We put together a short document with a list of HHC publications related to key changes in the Hungarian asylum system since 2015 so that you can find the explanation of every major step easily, … Read more