Islamic State targets vulnerable refugee children for recruitment

Hungary's PM claims victory in refugee referendum

3 October

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed victory in his country's referendum on mandatory EU refugee quotas, despite a low voter turnout rendering it invalid.

While 98 per cent of those who voted supported the government's call to reject the quotas, only 43 per cent of eligible voters took part, far less than the 50 per cent turnout required for the vote to be valid.

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Gulyas Gergely, the vice president of Hungary's ruling far-right party, Fidesz, nevertheless described the result as an "overwhelming victory" that demonstrated "unprecedented unity".

Orban says he still has a mandate to return to Brussels next week "to ensure that we should not be forced to accept in Hungary people we don't want to live with".

"I will do everything so this can never ever happen," he said.

Orban called the referendum as a protest against the EU's refugee-sharing quota, which would have resulted in 1,294 refugees from Greece and Italy being resettled in Hungary, which has a population of almost 10 million.

Refugee crisis: Germany warns Turkey against 'blackmailing' EU

2 August 2016

Germany has hit back after Turkey threatened to abandon its EU refugee deal unless its citizens were granted a visa waiver.

Under the controversial deal struck earlier this year, Ankara agreed to take back migrants who did not meet requirements for EU refugee status in exchange for funding and visa-free travel.

"If visa liberalization does not follow [by October], we will be forced to back away from the deal," Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Sunday.

However, his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said there were conditions to the visa waiver, including a reform of the country's anti-terror laws.

"Turkey still has work to do. It won't help now to give each other ultimatums and utter threats," he said.

Steinmeier's view was echoed by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who said Germany and Europe "should under no circumstances be blackmailed".

Turkey is unlikely to fulfil its human rights requirements, particularly in the wake of recent events, commentators warn. "Prospects for that have been increasingly fraught as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses special powers to crack down on dissent after the failed military coup," says Bloomberg.

On Sunday, Erdogan introduced sweeping new powers to bring the country's military further under civilian control as his far-reaching purge continues amid growing international concern.

Amnesty International says it has received widespread reports of the rape and torture of detainees.

"Even under a state of emergency, restrictions must be necessary, proportionate and for a legitimate purpose," Fotis Filippou, the group's deputy Europe director, told the Independent.

"The provisions of the two emergency decrees passed this week fail all three of these tests and fly in the face of the government's claim that they are upholding rights and the rule of law," he added.

Refugee crisis: Hungarian officials 'breaking all the rules'

14 July

Hungarian security forces have been accused of gross human rights abuses as hundreds of asylum-seekers remain stranded at the country's border.

A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleges that refugees have been beaten by armed police officers and accuses the government of failing to comply with its obligations under European Union law.

"Hungary is breaking all the rules for asylum-seekers," Lydia Gall, HRW's regional researcher, told Al Jazeera. "The European Commission should use its enforcement powers to press Budapest to provide meaningful access to asylum and fair procedures for those at its borders and on its territory."

The report also quotes an unidentified refugee as saying: "I haven't even seen such beating in the movies.

"Five or six soldiers took us one by one to beat us. They tied our hands with plastic handcuffs on our backs. They beat us with everything, with fists, kicks and batons."

Another member of the group said the police had set dogs on them and then attacked them when they were lying on the ground.

The Hungarian interior ministry has rejected the claims. "Migrants are not harassed on the Hungarian border. Hungary treats those truly in need humanely," it said.

Hundreds of refugees are currently stranded in makeshift camps at the border with Serbia after the government enforced a new rule in which only 15 asylum applications are processed per day.

The restrictions are creating another bottleneck in the Balkans, the Washington Post reports. "More than 1,000 have already piled up in the Horgos camp, which is starting to resemble the sprawling refugee settlement on the border between Greece and Macedonia," the newspaper says.

This is not the first time Hungarian security forces have faced accusations of mistreatment. Amnesty International published a highly critical report last year after the government built a 100-mile razor-wire fence along its border and criminalised those who entered the country illegally.