Conditions in reception facilities

Hungary

Country Report: Conditions in reception facilities Last updated: 19/04/23

Author

Hungarian Helsinki Committee Visit Website

Until the end of year 2022, asylum seekers were never left without accommodation due to a shortage of places in reception centres.

 

Overall conditions

Unlike detention centres (see section on Conditions in Detention Facilities), the legal standards regulating open reception premises are defined in separate instruments. There is no regulation on the minimum surface area, the minimum common areas or on the minimum sanitary fittings regarding reception centres.[1] Conditions in reception centres differ. In all centres, residents get 3 meals per day or are provided with financial allowance. As a result of the limited number of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection, people can cook for themselves in every facility (as an exception from this see also the part on Differential treatment of specific nationalities in reception). The Decree 52/2007 stipulates the amount of nutritional value that must be provided at the open reception facilities and states that religious diets are to be respected in all facilities.[2] There were no related complaints reported in the last years.

In all centres, regular cleaning is arranged, and the number of toilets and showers are sufficient in all facilities during regular occupancy. There has been no concerning complaint noted by the Menedék Association in the last years. Not every door is lockable which does not guarantee a sufficient level of privacy. Nonetheless, since 2018 there has been no complaint recorded in this regard either.

Residents share rooms. Families are accommodated in family rooms. Every facility has computers, community rooms and sport fields.

There have been no problems reported regarding religious practices.

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, asylum seekers were given disposable masks and gloves, and for certain periods of time fever control was introduced in the reception facilities. Hand sanitizers were provided at disposal in the reception centres, as well. Asylum seekers were continuously updated by the social workers – with the help of HHC attorneys and the Menedék Association – about the newly adopted regulations, such as rules of curfew and the time slots based on age introduced in the supermarkets in 2020. In general, asylum seekers were treated in the same way as Hungarian citizens with regard to COVID-19 measures. In case of residents showing COVID-19 symptoms in 2021, reception centres ensured that testing was carried out as soon as possible, and ordered a halt on visits in the reception centre. Nevertheless, there was no one registered with COVID-19 infection in the reception centres in 2021.[3]

 

Activities in the centres

Activities by the asylum authority’s social workers are less varied compared to prior to 2018. Since then, community activities have been mainly provided by NGOs in reception facilities. However, the number of organisations in the field has also decreased due to funding limitations. Exceptionally, in 2020, one social worker of the NDGAP provided child-specific development programmes and another offered Hungarian language classes for children in Vámosszabadi. According to the HHC’s knowledge, the services were provided with less intensity in Balassagyarmat. The community room in Vámosszabadi had been closed down and residents could not use it until early 2020 when, upon the Menedék Association’s request, the room was re-opened, and thus children could again play with the toys stored in it. The internet room became accessible again in both reception facilities. In spring 2021, an initiative aiming at providing Hungarian classes was proposed, but due to lack of interest by the residents it did not materialise. The activities in Fót also lack frequency and are organised on an ad hoc basis.

Between January and September 2021, due to the pandemic and the low number of residents, the Menedék Association kept in contact with the families living in Vámosszabadi and Balassagyarmat exclusively online. Once a family left the camps, the organisation developed an active relationship with them. From September until November 2021, they were present in the reception facilities on a weekly basis and organised orientation discussions and community activities. In 2022 Menedék Association was not present in Vámosszabadi neither in Balassagyarmat shelters. The organisation has been present in Fót. They offered activities to unaccompanied children, such as arts and craft programmes, Hungarian language class, psycho-social support, table tennis, board games or cinema visits. During the lockdown periods the Menedék Association provided its services online three times a week and through other telecommunication means. In 2021, the organisation visited the children home twice a week. Their activities aimed at assistance with school integration, information provision, orientation and the establishment of a sense of security for the children. In 2022, they were also present in Fót twice a week throughout the year, depending on the number of people present. The focus of the sessions continued to be on creating a sense of safe space, as well as on information transfer, orientation and school integration.

The Jesuit Refugee Service has been also present in Fót since autumn 2019. In 2020 and 2021 the organisation offered programs for the children on a weekly basis. In 2022, the organisation offered weekly Hungarian language as a foreign language classes and informal supportive conversations for unaccompanied minors.

In 2021, the Hungarian Red Cross distributed donations among the residents of the reception facilities.

The Cordelia Foundation provided psychosocial services to the residents of Vámosszabadi, Balassagyarmat and Fót. The Menedék Association was also present with one psychologist in Vámosszabadi and Fót until the first half of 2021 (see for more detail section on Health care).

 

 

 

[1] EASO, Description of the Hungarian asylum system, May 2015, available at: https://bit.ly/2GS9E4H, 10.

[2] Section 3(1a) of Decree 52/2007.

[3] Information provided by NDGAP on 7 February 2022.

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection
  • ANNEX I – Transposition of the CEAS in national legislation