HHC intervenes as a third party before the European Court of Human Rights in a push-back case

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee was granted leave to submit a third party intervention in the case of M.H. and Others v. Croatia, app. no. 15670/18. The case concerns an Afghan family that crossed to Croatia in 2017 to apply for asylum. They were denied to do so and were immediately pushed back to Serbia by the Croatian authorities. One of the children was hit by a train and died during the push-back. After several unsuccessful attempts, the applicants managed to enter and apply for asylum in Croatia. They were immediately placed in detention for an initial period of three months.

The HHC requested the European Court of Human Rights to grant leave to submit a third party intervention that would assist the Court in the following areas:

• An analysis of Contracting States’ obligations under EU and international law regarding the detention of families with children;
• How push-backs are a widespread practice on the Western Balkan migration route and how the decision of the Court in this case may significantly contribute in curbing this practice in other affected States as well;
• An analysis of prohibition of collective expulsion under EU and international law, with specific emphasis on the issue of evidence in light of the practical implementation of these measures;
• An analysis of Contracting States’ obligations under EU and international law regarding the access of NGOs to places of detention, and asylum seekers’ right to access legal assistance

You can read the HHC’s third party intervention, submitted on 8 October 2018, here.