At its session on Tuesday, the Government Human Rights Working Group’s Thematic Working Group for Other Civil and Political Rights declared that refugees are victims of war and people smugglers.

Following the session, Pál Völner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and chair of the working group, told news agency MTI that the body also stressed that the world’s leading powers should take action as soon as possible to remedy the situation arising as a result of migration.

During the session the reactions of European Union Member States and the EU itself to the challenges posed by migration were also reviewed, and it was noted that the majority of Member States have gradually accepted the Hungarian position on this matter.

The State Secretary added that this means that more and more people agree that the flow of migrants  must be stopped at the Schengen Area’s borders, and that the problem must be managed in migrants’ countries of origin or in nearby countries.

According to Mr. Völner, working group members agree that in the context of immigration a distinction should be made between refugees and economic migrants.

Such differentiation is needed, he added, because the cases of refugees are subject to separate international conventions, and the current problems are in large part caused by economic migrants.

(Ministry of Justice/MTI)