08/04/2016, Budapest (MTI) – In its communiqué (sent to the MTI), the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) emphasized on Friday afternoon that current detention conditions are in correspondence with both of EU law and Hungarian regulatory requirements.
The OIN made a comment on the article published on Thursday on the news portal, titled ’Abcúg’ where – among others – it was written that the asylum seekers who come to Europe experience the same circumstances in the Hungarian asylum system as at home, from where they have escaped. Referring to the essays published by the Helsinki Committee and the Cordelia Foundation, the news portal indicated numerous problems and defects. As an example, they highlighted that the asylum seekers have only limited internet access. What’s more, the experts who are in daily connection with the asylum seekers do not have specific qualifications and even the colleagues who work in the immigration detention facilities – in the majority of the cases – do not even have basic English knowledge.
According to the article’s speakers, refugees are in quasi ’prison conditions’ both in the asylum and in the immigration detention centers. In accordance with the essay, there is no psychologists or psychiatrists in the asylum system.
In its comment the OIN enhanced that some of the essay’s investigations were released during that period when Hungary was facing the biggest migratory pressure of its history. ’As a consequence, the essay reflects false and sometimes unfounded conclusions’ – as it was noticed. What’s more, - as they underlined – the report contains incorrect facts, like the Békéscsaba asylum acility is not accessible for disabled people, however there is a specific room in the ground floor of the facility which is made especially for the supply of the disabled people’s needs.
What’s more, - as it was written – there is medical care (which has been operating since years financed by EU support) at the Békéscsaba and Kiskunhalas Asylum Detention Centres where one of the Cordelia Foundation’s doctors also works.
According to the OIN, that announcement is very deceptive in which the Asylum Act does not mention the person who becomes victim of human trafficking among the people with specific needs, due to the illustrative nature of the law (people suffered from rape / psychical / physical / other serious forms of sexual violence) which also involves this category. What’s more, - as it was highlighted – Hungarian immigration regulations ensure specific treatment and measures of support to the victims of human trafficking.
It was also mentioned that the asylum authority’s colleagues shall participate in a training which is ordered by the law. This regulatory requirement is granted with a training elaborated by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). It was also enhanced that it is a requirement for the immigration decisionmakers and the social workers who work in asylum detention centers to be able to communicate in a foreign language in an adequate level. Among the colleagues – as it was also emphatized – there are also Arabic speakers, not just English / German / French speakers.
Commenting the lack of adequate medical care the Office of Immigration and Nationality indicated the followings: on the basis of the law, people with specific needs – regarding to their situation and based on the medical specialist’s opinion – are entitled to utilize (free of charge) the reasonable medical services, rehabilitation care, psychological care, clinical psychology specialist’s care and psycho-therapeutic treatments.
It was also denied by the OIN, that the asylum seekers do not receive information about their cases and about the proceedings. They explained the followings: the asylum authority gives proper information in the mother tongue or in other languages understood by the applicants. What’s more, the authority organizes regularly customer receptions where applicants are able to obtain information not only about the gerenal proceedings but about their specific cases as well.
In its communiqué, the Office of Immigration and Nationality highlighted that the free movement and keeping contact with the outside world (thus the use of internet and public telephones as well) are ensured within the asylum detention centers. What offen happens is that the facilities’ residents themselves make damage on the contact equipments and computers and even make them unusable.
6:06 p.m., 08/04/2016, MTI
