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.
In a shocking report, The Guardian revealed that Hungarian authorities pushed out even severely injured asylum seekers to Serbia. We have been drawing attention to this issue for a long time and continue to provide legal assistance to … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is implementing the YES project (Youth Engagement and Sensitization for Refugee Integration and an Inclusive Hungarian Society) between September 2022 and August 2024, with the support of terre des hommes Germany. With the project, on the one hand, we help young refugees and immigrants living in Hungary to become active participants in their communities and Hungarian society. On the other hand, we increase the awareness of Hungarian youth and teachers through sessions that help them understand the situation of refugees and immigrants. The YES project was born out of our wish to encourage refugees and immigrants – who belong to a minority with one of the most negative portrayals in Hungary – to feel more at home in Hungary by becoming more visible and equal.
Hungarian authorities forcibly transferred a Yemeni family of seven and an Afghan three-member family to Serbia in 2019. They all applied for asylum at Budapest Airport but were pushed out via the border fence. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled today that the Hungarian state violated the prohibition of collective expulsions and inhuman or degrading treatment. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee represented the asylum seekers, including a child with Down’s syndrome, in the case.
We invite you to join our Social Participation Course! We are looking for young people between the ages of 16-25 who live in Hungary as foreigners. Apply to the course, if: you want to feel … Read more
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the detention of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s two asylum seeker clients unlawful in today’s judgement against Hungary. The young men, from Afghanistan and Algeria, were in asylum detention for five and two months, which was not justified for even a single day.
The Hungarian government’s current attempt to reduce prison overcrowding is absurd. After boasting about its increasingly strict penal policy and communicating about the fight against migration, it has released hundreds of foreign human smugglers from prison, which is damaging and dangerous. We point out the main issues.
The protection of refugees requires trained professionals, who know how to build and operate protection systems in line with international human rights obligations. Unfortunately, in most regions of the world refugee studies are not taught … 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
Our updated guide is available in four languages: Hungarian, English, Ukranian, Russian. Individuals fleeing from Ukraine have different options in Hungary based on their citizenship. This document collects the most important pieces of information. Detailed … Read more
The demonisation of migrants is the first step leading to the attacks against those showing solidarity with them.
Last week a desperate “ping-pong game” between the Hungarian asylum authority and a court in Pécs, Hungary came to an end on behalf of a man who suffered so much over years. Alexei Torubarov, who … Read more
The right to a nationality at birth (or soon after) is still painfully often seen as a reserved domain of state sovereignty and discretion, an approach which is incorrect in light of relevant international obligations. … Read more
The HHC’s brief statistical report about the key asylum figures is available online here.
Fifty days after the latest legal changes entered into force on 28 March 2017, it transpires that the Hungarian asylum system has been reduced to the bare minimum through legislative and administrative measures. The HHC’s … Read more
The HHC’s brief statistical report about the key asylum figures is available online here.
The HHC’s brief statistical report about the key asylum figures is available online here.
On 11 April 2017 Hungary deported a seriously traumatised Afghan asylum-seeker to Bulgaria, where had been previously ill-treated by the authorities, despite the UN Human Rights Committee requesting Hungary not to do so. The HHC’s … Read more
The HHC’s brief statistical report about the key asylum figures is available online here.
A draft bill proposed by the Hungarian government would allow the authorities to automatically detain asylum seekers in transit zones and to summarily return asylum seekers to the Serbian border from anywhere in Hungary, Human … Read more