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.
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.
Today, Advocate General Rantos delivered his opinion in an infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission against Hungary in July 2018. The Advocate General held that the criminalisation of assistance to asylum-seekers violates the law … Read more
This submission has been prepared by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee in response to the call for input of the Special Rapporteur, to inform his report to the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights … Read more
Drawing on exchanges between the HHC, various stakeholders of Frontex and its Executive Director, our new information note shows how the Agency turned a blind eye towards well documented systemic human rights violations at Hungary’s … Read more
17 December 2020 (Budapest) – The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) today announced its judgment, closing infringement proceedings initiated in December 2015. The European Commission initiated the procedure because of concerns regarding … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee together with the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), the Dutch Council for Refugees (DCR), the AIRE Center, and the International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) submitted a third party intervention … Read more
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
Access to territory and the asylum procedure continues to be a serious challenge for those arriving to the Serbian-Hungarian border and in need of protection. However, it is not only this aspect of the Hungarian … Read more
The HHC has recently received an increasing number of complaints from Hungarian family members whose spouses have been suddenly expelled and eventually detained by the NDGAP (National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing). Several third-country national detainees … Read more
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on 14 May 2020 that Hungary’s practice of automatically placing the quasi-totality of asylum-seekers in closed land-border transit zones during the entire asylum procedure constitutes … 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 Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) and Women with Women Together Against Violence (NANE) submitted a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights on 20 July 2020 in A. A. v. Poland, Application … Read more
Appl. no. 46783/14
Today is World Refugee Day. 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 … Read more
Joined cases C-924/19 PPU and C-925/19 PPU
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
The authorities expelled an Iranian pharmacist student from Hungary as a result of a politically motivated show trial, even though she did not commit any violation of law. She is one of those Iranian students … 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 Hungarian Helsinki Committee made a movie about the Russian asylum-seeker, Alexei Torubarov. His eventful and touching story illustrates how unfairly refugees are demonized. The case of our client persecuted for his political views had to be brought … Read more