Hungary, a magnet for numerous would-be migrants because of its 110-mile land border with Serbia, has taken its own steps to stem the flow. One is brutally physical: a twelve-foot razor wire fence. The other is legal. Three years ago, Budapest passed a law preventing anyone not already lawfully resident seeking asylum, except through nominated Hungarian embassies abroad, one of which was that in Belgrade. The application had to be made in person there: the embassy would then decide whether to issue a temporary travel document allowing entry to Hungary while the application was processed.
The object was entirely practical: requiring irregular entrants to leave Hungary in order to apply for asylum discouraged such entry and made it more difficult for them to present the state with a practical fait accompli once they had crossed the border. Nor was it in any way inhuman: there is nothing hazardous about the diplomatic district in Belgrade.
The present system of refugee laws based on the Refugee Convention of 1951 is broken
The EU, never a friend to Viktor Orbán’s government, nevertheless objected: yesterday, the Court of Justice agreed.
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