ECHR Rules Hungary’s Detention of Migrants Illegal
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Hungary’s detention of two Bangladeshi migrants in a transit zone on the Serbian border breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case was brought by two men held in the transit zone in September 2015. The court ordered Hungary to pay 10,000 euros to each of them, as well as legal expenses.
Last week, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law mandating that all asylum seekers be detained in holding camps at the border. Human rights groups said the ECHR ruling had legal implications for the new policy.
“This judgment is particularly relevant now in Hungary because the Strasbourg court has found that detaining asylum seekers in the transit zone without any formal procedure and access to judicial remedy is unlawful,” said Marta Pardavi, cochair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
“This already ongoing practice of unlawful detention in the transit zone is exactly what the Hungarian newly adopted law foresees for every asylum seeker, so it’s clear: The new law is against the European Convention on Human Rights.”
OECD: German Companies Must Invest in Refugee Employees
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development applauded Germany’s first steps to integrate refugees into the labor market and called for investment in skills training to sustain the positive momentum.
Around 14 percent of the more than 1 million refugees and migrants who have entered Germany since 2015 have found employment.
The OECD survey of 2,200 German employers found most refugees had filled low-skilled positions. Many companies have employed refugees for social reasons, not to fill skills gaps. More than three-quarters of employers said they had few or no difficulties with the refugees they hired.
Thomas Liebig, coauthor of the OECD report, told Reuters that companies would now need to invest in on-the-job training for refugees to boost their skills and employability. “The real challenge is now. We have to keep up the drive, especially the companies,” he said.
Papua New Guinea Declares Migrant Detention Center ‘Closed’
Papua New Guinea declared a detention center for refugees and migrants who tried to reach Australia closed, even though 860 asylum seekers are still living in the facility.
The PNG government declared the Manus Island center to be part of a naval base and said refugees and migrants were not in detention because they are free to leave during the day.
PNG chief justice Salamo Injia accepted the government’s argument that the detention center was now closed. He ruled that the government had thus complied with last year’s supreme court ruling calling for the closure of the Australian-run detention camp.
The ruling removes legal obstacles to PNG deporting residents whose asylum claims have been rejected, and may imperil the residents’ legal case for compensation for their detention, Australia’s ABC News reports.
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- Brookings: How Teachers Use Mobile Phones as Education Tools in Refugee Camps
- Human Rights Watch: Greece: A Year of Suffering for Asylum Seekers
- The New York Times: A Threat on Migration That May Prove to Be Empty
- Quartz: Young Gambians Are Abandoning Their Risky Europe Migration Dreams Now Jammeh Is Gone