News / EU

Human Rights Watch censures Hungary over refugees

Wednesday, 13 July 2016 2:58 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 July 2016 2:59 PM ]

The photo shows refugees being arrested by Hungarian police officers near the Hungarian-Serbian border on September 17, 2015, after Hungary closed its borders in an effort to stem the wave of refugees entering the country. (AFP photo)

Human Rights Watch has censured Hungary for its "cruel and violent treatment" of refugees before forcing them to return to Serbia.

"Migrants at Hungary's border are being summarily forced back to Serbia, in some cases with cruel and violent treatment, without consideration of their claims for protection," the HRW said in a report published on its website on Wednesday.

The rights group interviewed in April and May 12 refugees who testified that Hungarian officials had brutally beaten and abused them and then expelled them back to Serbia.

"I haven't even seen such beating in the movies," the report quoted one man as saying, who added, "They deliberately gave us bad injuries."

Lydia Gall, a researcher at the New York-based rights group, accused Hungary of "breaking all the rules" and "summarily dismissing claims" by asylum seekers.

"People who cross into Hungary without permission, including women and children, have been viciously beaten and forced back across the border," she said.

Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Many blame major European powers for the exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and war in the violence-wracked regions.

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