BackLast year the number of foreign children entering Hungary illegally and unaccompanied by parents or adults significantly increased. The ombudsman suggests clarification of the laws setting out the work of police and the immigration authority so that the children’s rights of minors regardless of their citizenship can be enforced. The problem described in the ombudsman’s report is also addressed by the European Union.
Police caught 700 unaccompanied minors only between 1 January 2012 and 30 September 2012 who had entered the country, crossing the border illegally, without their parents or other accompanying adults. Several young people were sent back to Serbia, where they had come from. Others soon disappeared without a trace. Nothing has been known about them since then.
Máté Szabó ombudsman inquired a case of twelve Afghan children between the ages of five and fifteen who were caught by police last September. The inquiry pointed out the shortcomings of the legislation and the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights proposed their correction.
Source: Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, Hungary
