16 May 2014
The updated AIDA Report, compiled by ECRE member organization Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), shows that the use of asylum detention is widespread in Hungary. This follows the introduction in July 2013 of asylum detention on grounds, among others, of risk of absconding and when identity or nationality of the person seeking recognition is uncertain. 26% of all applicants and almost half (42%) of single men are detained but practice shows that families with children and single women are no longer detained in immigration or asylum detention facilities.
On the other hand, despite the clear ban on detention of unaccompanied children, at the beginning of 2014, the HHC identified during its monitoring missions to asylum detention facilities cases where asylum seekers visibly under 18 had been detained due to probably incorrect age assessment. The age assessment carried out by a police-employed doctor at the initial stage of the immigration procedure is generally a simplified examination based on their physical appearance, and the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) no longer requests a new age assessment.
The report also notes that subsequent asylum applicants (people who submit an asylum application after the case on a previous application has been rejected or closed) will now have the right to a suspensive effect of appeal, except if the subsequent application submitted after discontinuation (tacit or explicit) is found manifestly unfounded or inadmissible. As a consequence, the applicants will be allowed to stay in the territory pending the examination of their subsequent asylum application. Previously, subsequent applicants were usually issued an expulsion order and had to submit a separate request to appeal and/or suspend the order. As such requests had to be presented to another authority, many asylum seekers failed to lodge an appeal or suspend the removal.
The report notes that family reunification has become more difficult due to administrative barriers: all documents shall now bear an official stamp from the authorities proving that they are originals, as well as an official stamp from the Hungarian consulate. In addition, all documents have to be translated into English or Hungarian, which is very costly. According to the report, reunification proves to be very difficult especially when applicants with no valid passports apply for family reunification visas, which is often the case with Syrian nationals.
In 2013, asylum applications have raised a 776% (18,900) in Hungary compared to 2012 (2,157). The main country of origin of asylum seekers was Kosovo (6,212), followed by Pakistan (3,081) and Afghanistan (2,328).
This report is part of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA), a project of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), in partnership with Forum Refugiés-Cosi, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Irish Refugee Council. AIDA focuses on asylum procedures, reception conditions and detention of asylum seekers in EU Member States.
This article originally appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin of 16 May 2014.
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The updated AIDA Report, compiled by ECRE member organization Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), shows that the use of asylum detention is widespread in Hungary. This follows the introduction in July 2013 of asylum detention on grounds, among others, of risk of absconding and when identity or nationality of the person seeking recognition is uncertain. 26% of all applicants and almost half (42%) of single men are detained but practice shows that families with children and single women are no longer detained in immigration or asylum detention facilities.