Statelessness in Hungary
Having a nationality is like the air to breathe. One takes it for granted and only realises its importance when it is missing. Currently, there are at least 12 million stateless persons in the world.
Each year hundreds of thousands leave their home due to wars, hunger, torture and persecution globally. In Europe, although often perceived as a safe region, asylum-seekers are often met by refusal, detention and expulsion.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee works towards providing effective assistance to those fleeing to Hungary.
Having a nationality is like the air to breathe. One takes it for granted and only realises its importance when it is missing. Currently, there are at least 12 million stateless persons in the world.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee calls on the Hungarian government and the competent asylum authority, the Office of Immigration and Nationality to follow the example of Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, and the UK and stop Dublin transfers to Greece.
In the framework of its 2010 project entitled “Return in a lawful and humane manner” the Hungarian Helsinki Committee conducted a research on best practices of voluntary return and reintegration of failed asylum seekers or other groups of migrants.
The latest report of the Human Rights Watch is based on interviews with 161 refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Ukraine, Slovakia, and Hungary.
ECRE together with the European Legal Network on Asylum (ELENA) published a comparative survey that provides an overview of the provision of legal aid for asylum seekers in 19 countries across Europe.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Red Cross and Menedék – the Hungarian Association for Migrants epxress their deepest concerns regarding the immigration detention of children.
C-31/09
The results of the Dubliners project (link to the project) were presented at the final conference in Rome. Officials from Sweden, Hungary and Italy, and representatives of partner NGOs highlighted the difficulties in the application of the Dublin regulation.
A series of articles on the phenomenon of statelessness (written by Noémi Ivicsics, intern at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee) has been published on the Hungarian world news and foreign policy website, Kitekintő.
The European Court of Human Rights requested the Hungarian government to suspend the return of an unaccompanied 16-yar old Afghan asylum seeker to Greece under the Dublin Regulation on Friday, 26 February.
European refugee organisations file complaint with the European Commission.
France Terre d’Asile launches a European call against forced returns to Afghanistan.
Publisher: Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2008
ISBN: 978-963-87757-7-1
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Office of Immigration and Nationality signed a Cooperation Agreement on 22 June 2009.
After five decades of neglect, Europe is urged to respect its international obligations and provide stateless persons with a meaningful protection status.