The Council of Europe (CoE) has published a report of Secretary General’s Special Representative on Migration and Refugees, Ambassador Tomáš Boček, following his fact-finding mission to Serbia and Hungary. The main purpose of the report was to identify issues that the CoE can provide meaningful assistance to, in order to ensure that both countries can address the challenges of migratory flows whilst respecting their obligations under the CoE standards and human rights protection mechanisms. The Special Representative expressing a number of concerns in the report on the situation of migration and seeking asylum in both of the countries.

 

As part of the fact-finding mission the Special Representative visited Serbian asylum and reception centres and two transit zones in Hungary between 12 and 16 June 2017. In Serbia he visited asylum and reception centres in Adaševci, Principovac, Krnjača, Subotica, Sombor, Bogovađa and Obrenovac; meeting with representatives of the government, the authorities responsible for asylum and migration-related matters, intergovernmental organisations, the European Union as well as civil society. In Hungary the Special Representative visited the transit zones of Röszke and Tompa, and met with the regional representatives of the asylum authority, representatives of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and International Detention Coalition member, Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

 

The objective of the fact-finding mission was to gather information on the situation for migrants and refugees in Serbia and transit zones in Hungary and to identify how the CoE can offer assistance to the countries in meeting the challenges posed by the arrival of a high number of migrants and refugees. The report published by the CoE, sets out Ambassador Boček findings and conclusions from his visit to Hungary and Serbia, as well as Special Representative’s recommendations to the Council of Europe.

 

The parliamentarians of the CoE have also been running the End Child Detention Parliamentary campaign. 

 

Serbia

The Special Representative credits Serbia and its authorities for the country’s humanitarian approach, making praiseworthy efforts to provide shelter, food and medical support to every asylum seeker and migrant. The Special Representative commending Serbia’s approach to respect the right to liberty and freedom of movement of migrants and refugees. The Special Representative further praising Serbian authorities for their firm approach against the systematic detention of migrants and refugees, and the choice not to criminally prosecute and detain migrants and refugees.

 

On the other hand, Ambassador Boček raises concern about the asylum and reception centers and the situation of unaccompanied children in Serbian. The Ambassador Boček points out that asylum and reception center operating beyond their capacity, directly affect the conditions in particular the standards of accommodation and services provided. The report also finds that the age of unaccompanied children is often determined haphazardly, leading to certain cases of unaccompanied children being placed with adults. This further raising concerns regarding children’s exposure to risks of violence, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. The report identifies there are no uniform practices in respect of identification of vulnerabilities among unaccompanied children nor does Serbia provide special care upon their arrival in an asylum or reception center.

 

The report finds that access to the asylum procedure remains problematic, with migrants and refugees occasionally being pushed back from Serbia to neighboring countries without being given the chance to claim asylum. The report states there have been several cases of migrants and refugees not being given access to the basic information on the asylum procedure in Serbia and struggled to contact the asylum authorities. The report mentions a waiting list, which governs the migration flow from Serbia into Hungary, which is compiled in an informal and non­transparent way, which may lead to corruption. The Special Representative states that indirectly the waiting list deters migrants and refugees from making an application for international protection in Serbia and adds more uncertainty and confusion to an already ambiguous situation with regard to their legal and administrative status in Serbia.

 

The Special Representative stresses the need to improve migrants and refugees’ access to asylum procedures and their living conditions, to address informal practices relating to the management of the migration flow towards Hungary. He recommends that urgent action should be taken to strengthen the guardianship system for around 1000 unaccompanied children present in the country and to ensure their proper accommodation with a view to preventing their exposure to risks of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation and human trafficking.

 

Hungary

The Special Representative visited the transit zones of Röszke and Tompa in Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian authorities, following legislative changes to the Asylum Act and other migration-related laws, which became effective during the first quarter of 2017. The Special Representative identified that the conditions in Hungarian transit zones and the systematic deprivation of liberty of asylum seekers raises human right issues. Ambassador Boček mentioning that asylum seekers he spoke to in the transit zones, especially families expressed the feeling that they and their children are in a prison.

 

The Special Representative raises concern about the current system, questioning its adequacy in addressing the protection and development needs of unaccompanied children throughout their stay in the transit zones. The Special Representative identified the confinement of children in transit zones, including unaccompanied children between the ages of 14 and 18, must be addressed as the best interest of the child should be the primary consideration and that every effort should be made to avoid resorting to the deprivation of liberty of migrant and refugee children on the sole ground of their migration status.

 

“The situation of asylum-seekers in the Hungarian transit zones of Röszke and Tompa raises concerns about de facto deprivation of liberty under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights”, Ambassador Tomáš Boček said in the report.

 

Under the Hungarian asylum system, asylum seekers are confined in the Röszke and Tompa transit zones for the entire duration of the asylum procedure. Thus raising further concerns about de facto deprivation of their liberty. Leaving the transit means they withdraw their asylum application and forfeit their right to seek asylum in Hungary. According to the report, Hungarian authorities do not consider that the mandatory stay of asylum seekers within the transit zones qualifies as deprivation of liberty, saying that asylum seekers enter the transit zones on a voluntary basis and that they are free to leave these facilities any time they wish, in which case their asylum procedures would be discontinued.

 

The Special Representative concludes that report with series of recommendations to Council of Europe. Many of the recommendation focus on the protection of the migrant and refugee groups, in particular unaccompanied children.

 

Recommendations

Some of the recommendations include:

  • Assist the Serbian authorities with their ongoing reform of the legislation on asylum and foreigners. In particular, we can provide the Council of Europe’s expertise and advice in creating a legal status for every category of foreigners present in Serbia, which would be in compliance with the ECHR and in ensuring the enjoyment by all migrants of social rights, according to all relevant international human­rights standards
  • Encourage and support the Serbian authorities in strengthening the capacity of the Asylum Office, through human­rights training under the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) and facilitating exchanges of good­practices in relation to the registration of asylum­seekers and the processing of their applications, with a view to ensuring that the right to seek asylum is guaranteed and that all asylum and immigration decisions are made in full compliance with the ECHR, including its Articles 2, 3 and 13 and Article 4 of Protocol No.4
  • Call on the Serbian authorities to ensure compulsory education for every child in asylum and reception centres, in accordance with Serbian legislation
  • Call on the Hungarian authorities to take the necessary measures, including by reviewing the relevant legislative framework and changing relevant practices, to ensure that all foreign nationals arriving at the border or who are in the Hungarian territory are not deterred from making an application for international protection due to practices such as allowing only a limited number of people into the transit zones but, instead, have effective access to asylum procedures with proper safeguards against the risks of refoulement and chain refoulement
  • Call on the Hungarian authorities to ensure compliance with Articles 3, 5 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the fields covered by this report
  • Call on the Hungarian authorities to make every effort to ensure that no migrant child is deprived of his/her liberty on the sole ground of his/her migration status and progressively to consider developing and implementing alternative measures to immigration detention
  • Support the Hungarian authorities in addressing all the above­mentioned issues, in particular by providing Council of Europe advice and expertise in eventual legislative changes, as well as by assisting the asylum and law enforcement authorities with training on human­rights standards, in order to ensure compliance with the country’s obligations under the ECHR

 

You can read the full report here.

 

More Information

Asylum Information Database (AIDA) – Country Report: Serbia

Belgrade Center for Human Rights – Right to Asylum in Serbia Periodic Report

The Council of Europe – Full press release

Global Detention Project – Country Profile: Hungary

End Immigration Detention of Child campaign – Website

Hungarian Helsinki Committee Background Note on Transit Zones