• Press Release

Hungary: Deplorable images in asylum-seekers reception center

September 11, 2015

The shocking images of scores of refugees and asylum-seekers being thrown food by Hungarian police at a registration center in Roszke underscores the deplorable conditions facing those being held by the Hungarian authorities, said Amnesty International today.

The organization is calling for human rights monitors to be granted immediate access to all centers and facilities housing refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants who have recently arrived in Hungary.

“The image of refugees and asylum-seekers clamoring for food as the police throw parcels of food is truly sickening,” said Barbora Cernusakova, a researcher for Amnesty International.

“Human rights monitors must be given immediate access to registration centers, and every effort must be made to improve the conditions in which refugees and asylum-seekers are held.”

Amnesty International staff were refused access to the registration center in Roszke, Hungary which is featured in the YouTube video which gained global media attention today.

Amnesty International spoke to a number of the refugees and asylum-seekers who had stayed in the center for between one and three days. They reported some instances of ill-treatment by the police and also reported that food and water was in short supply, as were sanitation facilities.