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Fence against immigrants in Hungary
Mariana Andrei - Communication Coordinator
25 June 2015
Hungary has recently decided to fence off the border with Serbia following the flow of illegal immigrants, by building a 4 m high fence along the border with Serbia. This decision was strongly disputed and commented in international and local media and generated a series of reactions from migrants' rights advocates.
According to the Hungarian Office for Immigration and Citizenship (BAH), about 57,000 persons entered Hungary illegally this year, more than in 2014 when this number was 43,000.
Hungary, a landlocked central European country of about 10 million people, is an attractive destination for tens of thousands of migrants entering Europe through the Balkans from the Middle East and Africa, because it is in the Schengen area. "The EU's countries seek a solution (for the problem of immigration) ... but Hungary cannot afford to wait any longer," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference. In the opinion of the Hungarian official, the fence to be built along the 175 km of common border between the two countries will not trespass international treaties.
However Hungary's gesture triggered an immediate rebuke from the United Nations Refugee Agency. "The right to seek asylum is an inalienable human right. So we are concerned that erecting a fence would place too many barriers to this right," Kitty McKinsey, regional spokesperson of the UN Refugee Agency, told Reuters.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was surprised at the Hungarian decision: "Nobody builds walls in a modern world, you know, and particularly not in a part of Europe," Vucic said during a visit to Oslo. He also mentioned that most illegal migrants arrive in Serbia from Bulgaria, which is an EU member, or from Macedonia, which is not, and still Serbians are not going to do the same to Macedonia as the Hungarians.
"The solution is not to raise walls. Serbia cannot be guilty of the situation generated by immigrants, we are only a transit country. Is Serbia responsible for the situation in Syria?", wondered Aleksandar Vucic. The Serbian official noted that immigrants who arrive in his country from EU countries, meaning Bulgaria and Greece, receive support, food, even if they do not want to stay in Serbia, they are just in transit.
The European Commission has also not remained indifferent to Hungary's intention. "We have just demolished the walls which divided Europe, it is not the case now to build others instead!", the European Commission has recently commented.
Nevertheless, if the Hungarian Government's plans are materialized, in a few months a fence will rise up to block the passage of illegal immigrants. “There are voices who believe such fence would be useless because immigrants will bypass it, for instance through Romania”, transmits Balazs Barabas, Digi24 correspondent in Hungary.
For the immigrants, Roszke - the area they cross illegally - is just a stop. They spend the night or find shelter against bad weather in the ruins of abandoned houses or in bushes, for fear of being caught by the police and expelled. For human traffickers, all these people are just a merchandise. "They should be somehow stopped to come this way, but I don't know how they could be stopped. They should be stopped there, at their end, but I got the feeling that the European Union does not want this and has no power to do it either. When I say power I mean also money", said Szelpal Jozsef, a local inhabitant of Roszke, for Digi 24.
Hungary is not the first country to make such a decision; Bulgaria has built its own fence along a section of its 240 km long border with Turkey, with the same purpose of limiting the number of paperless migrants, and has plans to extend it.
Sources: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/us-hungary-immigration-idUSKBN0OX17I20150617
http://www.digi24.ro/Stiri/Digi24/Special/Reportaj/REPORTAJ+Ungaria+pe+picior+de+razboi+cu+imigrantii
http://www.agerpres.ro/externe/2015/06/18/imigranti-serbia-socata-de-decizia-ungariei-de-a-inchide-granita-comuna-00-02-20
According to the Hungarian Office for Immigration and Citizenship (BAH), about 57,000 persons entered Hungary illegally this year, more than in 2014 when this number was 43,000.
Hungary, a landlocked central European country of about 10 million people, is an attractive destination for tens of thousands of migrants entering Europe through the Balkans from the Middle East and Africa, because it is in the Schengen area. "The EU's countries seek a solution (for the problem of immigration) ... but Hungary cannot afford to wait any longer," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference. In the opinion of the Hungarian official, the fence to be built along the 175 km of common border between the two countries will not trespass international treaties.
However Hungary's gesture triggered an immediate rebuke from the United Nations Refugee Agency. "The right to seek asylum is an inalienable human right. So we are concerned that erecting a fence would place too many barriers to this right," Kitty McKinsey, regional spokesperson of the UN Refugee Agency, told Reuters.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was surprised at the Hungarian decision: "Nobody builds walls in a modern world, you know, and particularly not in a part of Europe," Vucic said during a visit to Oslo. He also mentioned that most illegal migrants arrive in Serbia from Bulgaria, which is an EU member, or from Macedonia, which is not, and still Serbians are not going to do the same to Macedonia as the Hungarians.
"The solution is not to raise walls. Serbia cannot be guilty of the situation generated by immigrants, we are only a transit country. Is Serbia responsible for the situation in Syria?", wondered Aleksandar Vucic. The Serbian official noted that immigrants who arrive in his country from EU countries, meaning Bulgaria and Greece, receive support, food, even if they do not want to stay in Serbia, they are just in transit.
The European Commission has also not remained indifferent to Hungary's intention. "We have just demolished the walls which divided Europe, it is not the case now to build others instead!", the European Commission has recently commented.
Nevertheless, if the Hungarian Government's plans are materialized, in a few months a fence will rise up to block the passage of illegal immigrants. “There are voices who believe such fence would be useless because immigrants will bypass it, for instance through Romania”, transmits Balazs Barabas, Digi24 correspondent in Hungary.
For the immigrants, Roszke - the area they cross illegally - is just a stop. They spend the night or find shelter against bad weather in the ruins of abandoned houses or in bushes, for fear of being caught by the police and expelled. For human traffickers, all these people are just a merchandise. "They should be somehow stopped to come this way, but I don't know how they could be stopped. They should be stopped there, at their end, but I got the feeling that the European Union does not want this and has no power to do it either. When I say power I mean also money", said Szelpal Jozsef, a local inhabitant of Roszke, for Digi 24.
Hungary is not the first country to make such a decision; Bulgaria has built its own fence along a section of its 240 km long border with Turkey, with the same purpose of limiting the number of paperless migrants, and has plans to extend it.
Sources: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/us-hungary-immigration-idUSKBN0OX17I20150617
http://www.digi24.ro/Stiri/Digi24/Special/Reportaj/REPORTAJ+Ungaria+pe+picior+de+razboi+cu+imigrantii
http://www.agerpres.ro/externe/2015/06/18/imigranti-serbia-socata-de-decizia-ungariei-de-a-inchide-granita-comuna-00-02-20
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