(Vatican Radio) Hungary says it will soon open a third transit zone on its border with Serbia where refugees can apply for asylum amid concerns about a new influx of people fleeing war and poverty. The announcement came after the United Nations refugee agency urged the two countries to find a human solution to the situation of refugees camping in dire conditions at the border between the two countries.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Hungary and Serbia should care for the hundreds
of refugees who are stuck at the border, waiting to enter the European Union. The
UNHCR Representative in Serbia, Hans Schodder, visited the small tent city Friday
that has formed on the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence Hungary put up last year
to keep out migrants.
He expressed concern that the estimated 300 people are camping in an area without
toilets and running water, relying on aid groups for food and water. Schodder declined
to compare the situation to the now-dismantled camp at the Greece-Macedonia border
where thousands were stranded for months after the Balkan route effectively closed
in March.
Hungarian authorities have let through about 20 people a day, mostly families with
small children. However György Bakondi, the homeland security adviser to anti-migration
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, told reporters that a new transit zone is planned to
be set up in the village of Asotthalom. "The number of migrants crossing the border
illegally is growing.
The number of those waiting near the border is also increasing. Therefore we strengthen the fence near the village of Asotthalom..." he said. He added that "at the same time we are building a new transit zone there."
MAYOR NOT HAPPY
Yet Asotthalom Mayor László Toroczkai , of the far-right Jobbik party, said in
a reaction that he was not happy about the plan although he supports government efforts
to "stop the illegal migrants."
On the YouTube website he has placed a Hollywood-style video clip warning migrants
not to enter Hungary illegally. "We welcome everyone who respects our laws and enters
our country through our international border crossing point," he says in the clip,
released last year. "But those who try to cross our border illegally may easily end
up in prison." Soon viewers hear exciting music while seeing a fast driving car of
the local rangers backed by a motor driver, a police helicopter and men on horses
rushing towards a field where the mayor, wearing sun glasses, appears in front of
angry looking men in uniforms.
Yet despite these efforts, Hungarian authorities have acknowledged that some 11,000
migrants have been detained for entering Hungary illegally this year alone, despite
razor wire fences. And Hundreds of migrants are already waiting at two border transit
zones - at Roszke and Kelebia - as Hungary is registering just 20 to 30 asylum-seekers
a day at the makeshift registry points there.
The transit zones were set up late last year after Hungary greatly stemmed the flow
of migrants toward Western Europe with the razor-wire fences on its borders with Serbia
and Croatia.
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