Speaking about the migration crisis on Saturday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that Hungarian legislation is in full compliance with its European equivalent.
Through a press release, the Minister informed MTI of his reaction to a statement on Friday by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks. Referring to the European migration crisis, Mr. Muižnieks had called attention to the fact that European states must abide by their human rights obligations, adding that he was concerned that “Hungary has not lived up to this challenge”.
After his three-day visit to Hungary, Mr. Muižnieks issued a press release which said that Hungary had been confronted with an unprecedented task when some four hundred thousand people had arrived at its borders in the hope of receiving international protection. According to the Council of Europe Commissioner, in Hungary “a series of swift measures taken in recent months have rendered access to international protection extremely difficult and unjustifiably criminalised immigrants and asylum seekers”.
Regarding this, Mr. Szijjártó remarked that unfortunately “the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights was wrong”. He declared that the Hungarian legislation is in full compliance with its European equivalent in all respects.
“It is obvious that although some – including the Council of Europe Commissioner – might wish to see a non-transparent, confused situation in Hungary also, we will not comply with that request”, the Minister said.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
