Hungary Approves Detention Of All Asylum-seekers

BUDAPEST, March 7 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Mar, 2017 ) - Hungary's parliament on Tuesday approved the automatic detention of all asylum-seekers in container camps at the country's southern borders, brushing off concerns from rights groups.

The legislation, approved by a large majority of lawmakers, is in response to recent terror attacks in Europe carried out by migrants, according to hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban. All asylum-seekers entering Hungary as well as those currently in the country will be detained or moved to the container camps.

There they will be prevented from moving around Hungary or leaving the country while their applications are processed.

"In the future, illegal immigrants must wait for the verdict on their asylum case in designated transit zones at the border," read Tuesday's bill, published on the Hungarian parliament's website.

It reinstates Hungary's practice of detaining asylum applicants, which it suspended in 2013 under pressure from Brussels, the UN refugee agency and the European Court of Human Rights. Amnesty International said in a statement last month that the new rules "disregard EU guiding principles that it is forbidden to detain someone on the basis that they have claimed asylum".