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Hungary Intentionally Denying Food To Asylum-Seekers, Watchdog Groups Say

Would-be refugees who have appealed their asylum claims in Hungary have been systematically deprived of food, observers say. The European Court of Human Rights has intervened on a case by case basis.
A police officer walks through a gate at the Tompa border station transit zone in April 2017. Hungary has two "transit zones" with shipping containers that are used to automatically detain migrants while their asylum claims are investigated. This month, Hungary began denying food to asylum-seekers whose claims were rejected and appealed, human rights groups say.

Hungary's government has stopped providing food to adult asylum-seekers who have been denied but have appealed their cases, prompting outcry from human rights groups and intervention from the European Court of Human Rights.

Authorities have not only refused to provide food to those asylum-seekers, but also denied them permission to buy their own food and blocked attempts by outside groups to donate food, according to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog group based in Hungary that has provided legal assistance to the asylum-seekers.

András Léderer, information and advocacy

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