Report from Nyirbator/Hungary detention center (late but still relevant)‏

Hey,

even if it's coming very late, I wanted to give an update from the 
impressions we got from a visit at Nyirbator detention center on 12th 
of November:

-People detained there are partially people who were arrested and 
detained directly after arriving in Hungary, others are people who 
were detained after being deported to Hungary from other EU countries 
based on "Dublin II" or other bilateral agreements.

-Many of them have applied for asylum in Hungary and their case is 
open, but they are kept in detention due to the Hungarian law allowing 
to detain people during their asylum procedure.

-People are told by the authorities: If you want to leave the closed 
camp and be free, the only exit for you is to accept being deported to 
Serbia - a clear blackmailing of refugees! As Serbia is no EU member 
and thus not part of Dublin II, I doubt if there is normally any legal 
base for deportations from Hungary to Serbia according to 
international law forbidding so-called "Refoulement" (does anyone know 
more about?).

-As far as I understood the information told by one of the refugees in 
Nyirbator, it also happens sometimes that people get deported from 
Nyirbator to Serbia even if they didn't agree to be deported.

-Structure of the detention center: As far as I understood, there is 
one building generally for detention of people, one side building 
where people are brought to wait for deportation to Serbia and one 
"hospital" building for sick people.

-Conditions: People complain about conditions that are terribly bad: 
The food is very bad and causing serious health problems, many people 
are sick but don't get proper treatment. For being taken to an 
appointment with the authorities or to the doctor, people are 
handcuffed (I saw it myself), sometimes alone, sometimes two persons 
locked together, and lead by a chain (I found it an image like from a 
US "chain gang" movie...). People complain also about lack of 
information concerning their legal procedure and the trust to the few 
lawyers who are showing up at Nyirbator (including those of Helsinki 
Committee) seems to be quite low, as some refugees accuse them to work 
more in favour of the authorities (I can't judge in how far this is 
true, but a lack of confidence is definitely there).

-Possibilities/expectations to do something against the situation: One 
of the refugees in Nyirbator said that they really would like to have 
a platform through media, internet etc. to let the world know about 
what they are facing in the detention center and to mobilise 
solidarity for their demand to get free. In Budapest, we discussed 
with two local activists about the possibility to set up an internet 
platform (blog or sth. similar) to publish testimonies from refugees 
in Nyirbator. This could be a tool for people in Nyirbator to call for 
support in their desperate situation and also a contribution to make 
political pressure against "Dublin II" deportations to Hungary.

So far from my side for now,
take care,
Ebs from Vienna