“UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said such treatment of asylum seekers was "unacceptable". On the Today Program this morning, a representative for the UN said that Hungary had violated the Geneva Convention with its brutal treatment of these refugees.”
Mr Ki-moon (or is it Mr Ban, I’m never quite sure) should read his own organisation’s “Convention on the status of refugees”. I shall provide this information for the 94th time hoping that he is an AB user. (All regular ABers should be aware of it by now). This is the full Convention:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/StatusOfRefugees.aspx
This is the relevant bit (Article 31):
“The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.”
Note (yet again) “…coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened…” and "...provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities..."
Those massing on the Hungarian border are not refugees. They lost that status and their immunity from action against them for illegal entry as soon as they left Turkey. They are now illegal immigrants. The fact that Serbia has chosen not to treat them as such and is content to wave them on their way is their affair. Their folly in doing so is now laid bare as they (and now Croatia as well) may find themselves with many thousands of people, to whom they should have denied entry, within their borders. Croatia itself may soon regret laying out their welcome mat. Most of their border to the north is with Hungary so I imagine onward routes that way will soon be blocked. That just leaves little Slovenia to bear the onslaught.
The fact that they “want” to continue their journeys to countries which have welcomed them is not the point Mikey. That is not an option open to them and the sooner that is made clear to them the better. (Apart from that, those countries who may have welcomed them now may have changed their minds in view of their behaviour).
Hungary is simply doing what all EU nations with external borders (particularly in the light of the discredited Schengen Agreement) should do – protect those borders and prevent illegal incursions. Quite how they are supposed to do that without the use of force when faced with rampaging mobs intent on tearing down anything in their way is a little hard to understand. Italy and Greece should have done the same when the invasion began in earnest in the Spring.
This situation is a complete shambles. It has been fomented by the ridiculous actions and inactions of EU member states and the Euromaniacs. Frau Merkel has a lot to answer for when she invited 800,000 migrants into Germany (an invitation that lasted about 10 days). The rest of the continent is paying the price for that and similar inanities.
The UN should concentrate on encouraging those leaving Syria to remain there. Those who do leave should have Article 31 clearly explained to them.