Hungary closes border to asylum seekers
Country claims it is enforcing EU rules
SERBIAN-HUNGARIAN BORDER — Asylum seekers clamouring to enter the European Union were turned back at a razor-wire fence on the Hungarian border on Tuesday, in a crackdown a UN official described as “really alarming” and rights groups said breached international law.
In scenes carrying echoes of the Cold War, ex-communist Hungary’s right-wing government effectively sealed the main land route used by migrants fleeing war and poverty to reach the EU.
Families stared at police through a fence thrown up along the length of Hungary’s southern frontier with Serbia to keep them out. Others blocked the main highway traversing the border, banging on a metal barrier rolled out across the road.
“Strike. No food. No water. Open this border,” a woman had written on a child’s dress that she held above her head.
“I will sit here until they open the border. I cannot go back to Syria. Life in Syria is finished,” said a Kurd from Syria who gave his name as Bawer.
Authorities said 48 asylum claims had been submitted, of which 16 had been ruled upon and all rejected within a matter of hours, a pace critics said raised doubt over the fairness of the process.
The Hungarian frontier with Serbia has been the main land route for migrants to reach the European Union’s border-free Schengen zone.
Hungary says that by reinforcing the frontier it is simply enforcing EU rules, and that it is not required to accept refugees who have already reached Serbia, a country it has designated as safe.
The UN disputes that designation, saying Serbia does not have the capacity to house thousands of refugees turned back at the EU’s gates.
The International Organization for Migration said the crackdown “looks like” a contravention of Hungary’s obligations under UN and EU rules. Erno Simon, a spokesman for the UNHCR in Hungary, said elements of the new border regime were “really alarming.”