Dublin II in Hungary
last update: August 2010
Officially, there are no limits for the return of refugees to Greece. In several cases, however, a high court suspended such deportations and ordered Hungary to carry out the refugee status determination procedure, mostly in the case of families with small children, single women and unaccompanied minors. Adult males’ applications are generally refuted and people are deported to Greece. As the time frame to contest the decision on the transfer is only three days, you should seek legal assistance from lawyers of the refugee assisting NGO, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
Asylum seekers under the Dublin II procedure are likely to be detained in jail or in a closed reception centre until the transfer takes place or the court rules differently. Detention can be a frustrating experience, and depending on the place of detention, access to legal, social and psychological assistance can be limited.
Hungarian Helsinki Committee
1054 Budapest
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky road 36-38.
1st floor
Tel. +361 321 41 41, +361 321 4323, +361 321 4327
Fax: +361 321 41 41, +361 321 4323, +361 321 4327
web: www.helsinki.hu
email: helsinki(at)helsinki.hu
office hours: on the basis of a scheduled appointment with HHC colleagues via telephone
UNHCR Information on Dublin II transfers especially to Greece - Abstract Hungary
last update: UNHCR, 16/06/2010
In Hungary, seven cases where transfers to Greece have been blocked by the courts have come to UNHCR’s attention. The first two concern an Afghan boy who had been homeless for three years in Greece and a Somali man who had tuberculosis. In September and December 2009, the municipal court of Budapest, the highest level appeal body in Dublin cases in Hungary, ruled against their transfer to Greece. Both judgments refer to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and state that, since available country information indicates that adequate reception conditions are not available in Greece, a transfer would clearly put them in danger and expose them to inhuman treatment. Since then, the municipal court in Budapest has issued five further rulings that Hungary should assume responsibility for assessing five different cases (involving a total of 21 individuals). Another case concerned an Afghan minor, who had arrived in Hungary in December 2009, having lived in Greece for almost three years, during which time he had received no support from the State or NGOs, even though he had applied for asylum. He had therefore had to live on the streets, had been a victim of police brutality, and had become infected with hepatitis B, for which he had received no treatment. An application for interim measures under Rule 39 to prevent his transfer to Greece was granted, but on 26 February, the Office of Immigration and Nationality agreed to assume responsibility for assessing the case under Article 3(2).