Access to detention facilities

Author

Hungarian Helsinki Committee Visit Website

In the summer of 2017, the authorities terminated its cooperation agreements with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and denied them access to police detention, prisons and immigration detention after two decades of cooperation and over 2,000 visits (see Information for Asylum Seekers).

Politicians have access to asylum detention, but they need to ask for permission in advance. In practice, this rarely happens, since the interest is not very high. Media access is more limited. Media were let in the transit zones only on one occasion, soon after the opening of the transit zones, when a press conference was organised by the Ministry of Interior in Tompa transit zone on 6 April 2017, which was virtually emptied of its inhabitants for the time of the press conference.^[1] On 8 October 2019, the ECtHR ruled that refusing a journalist access to report on living conditions in a reception centre for asylum seekers is a violation of freedom of expression.^[2]

In asylum detention, no NGO is present on a regular basis. In 2020, the Hungarian Red Cross visited the facility two times and provided non-perishable food for the detainees.^[3]

In 2022 nor in 2023, none of the civil organisations or religious entities visited Nyírbator asylum detention centre.^[4] In 2024, UNHCR visited the Nyírbator asylum detention centre once.

On 10 February 2020, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published its concluding observations on Hungary, where it found worrying that NGOs are excluded from consultation and cannot conduct activities in a free environment, including NGOs working on asylum and detention.^[5]

^{[1] Hvg, Megnéztük a helyet, ahol Németh Szilárd szívesen lakott volna, 6 April 2017, available in Hungarian here, Abcúg, Szöges drótok pókhálója szövi körbe a tranzitzónában malmozó menedékkérőket, 7 April 2017, available in Hungarian here. Index.hu, Szöges drótok pókhálója szövi körbe a tranzitzónában malmozó menedékkérőket, 7 April 2017, available in Hungarian here.}

^{[2] ECtHR, Szurovecz v. Hungary, Application no 15428/16, Judgment of 8 October 2019, available here.}

^{[3] Information provided by NDGAP on 2 March 2021.}

^{[4] Information provided by NDGAP on 13 February 2023.}

^{[5] CRC, Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Hungary, 3 March 2020, CRC/C/HUN/CO/6*, available here, para. 14.}