Evaluating Frontex’s human rights mechanisms related to Hungary
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 Schengen borders for more than four years. Moreover, the Agency remained in Hungary even after the CJEU ruled in December 2020 that extrajudicial push-backs taking place at the Hungarian-Serbian border breach EU law.
Hungary’s legalisation of push-backs in breach of EU law according to the Court of Justice of the European Union
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 HHC’s Family Reunification Activities and Challenges in the COVID-19 Era
The HHC’s Family Reunification Activities and Challenges in the COVID-19 Era Everyone’s right to family life and family unity regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or any other status has long been recognised in international human rights law, international refugee law and EU law. When people flee their countries due to wars, persecution, and serious human rights violations, they may become separated from their families.
State of play of infringement procedures concerning various issues related to the Hungarian asylum system
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 all infringement procedures here.
The Absurdity Within
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 asylum procedure that seems to be out of synch with Hungary’s implementation of the European asylum acquis.
Note on the growing use of national security arguments in expulsion cases
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).
Guide on how to establish a refugee law clinic
The new edition of the “Guide on how to establish a refugee law clinic” is now ready! The guide has been updated with the collaboration of experts from Eastern Europe and Latin America. It aims to provide support and practical ideas to universities, professors, lawyers, NGOs, students, and volunteers who are interested in establishing a “refugee law clinic”, anywhere in the world.
Hungary de facto removes itself from the Common European Asylum System
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 unlawful detention. As a reaction, the Hungarian government announced the introduction of a new asylum system.
The Opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Transit Zone
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.
Emergence of a broad consensus on transit zone detention
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 UN opinions and concluding observations, reports and statements of Council of Europe and UN institutions focusing on the transit zones at Röszke and Tompa at the Hungarian-Serbian border after March 2017.