Hungary starts construction of second fence along Serbia border

Hungary has begun construction work on a second fence along its border with Serbia in an alleged bid to make the processing of refugees more effective.

The construction operation began on Monday, a government spokesman said, adding that it would be the second line of fence along the country’s southern border.

Construction material had already been shipped to various areas along the border while poles for the fence were already standing near the border station Kelebia.

Some USD 130 million has been earmarked by the government for the fence and camps to hold refugees.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said earlier that Hungary would begin the construction as soon as the weather permitted and the project would finish by the end of spring.

The fence would for now extend only to the border with Serbia, a key point of entry for many refugees planning to travel to Western Europe.

Hungary has faced increasing criticism from rights groups over its treatment of refugees. Budapest erected a barbed-wire fence in 2015 at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis, which saw more than a million cross into the continent. The second fence, which the government says is necessary to better process refugees, has already sparked fresh outrage.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged the European Union, to which Hungary is a member state, to intervene and stop Budapest’s “inhumane” treatment of refugees.

"The European Commission should not stand by while Hungary makes a mockery of the right to seek asylum,” the HRW deputy director Benjamin Ward said.

“Using transit zones as detention centers and forcing asylum seekers who are already inside Hungary back to the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence is abusive, pointless, and cruel,” he added.

The government in Budapest dismissed the remarks, saying the HRW and other rights groups should see the fact that Hungary is doing its best to honor the EU rules by protecting the body’s Schengen borders and separating refugees from “economic migrants.”

Hungary is currently ruled by a right-wing government, which insists that refugees pose a major security threat both to the country and to the entire EU.

Prime Minister Orban has been one of few European leaders to endorse plans by US President Donald Trump to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The EU has also been wary of Orban’s policies, which many say have, in some cases, fallen short of respecting the EU standards. 

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