Hungary to detain all asylum seekers in container camps
Hungary’s parliament has overwhelmingly backed measures to force all asylum seekers into detention camps on its southern borders, the Guardian reports.
The measure, fiercely opposed by civil liberties groups in the country and some socialist MPs, was passed by 138 votes to six with 22 abstentions.
Asylum seekers in Hungary, which hundreds of thousands entered in 2015 in the hope of reaching Western Europe, can at present be held for up to four weeks if they are apprehended within five miles of the border, but the new rules remove the time limit and will apply countrywide. Unaccompanied minors below the age of 14 will be put in the care of the country’s child protection services.
The Hungarian government stressed that any detained asylum seekers would be free to leave at any point, as long as they drop their claim and return to either Serbia or Croatia, the two countries through which refugees have mainly been arriving.
The measure will apply to new arrivals, as well as to those who are already in Hungary: 586 people as of February of this year, TASS reports.