Refugees between EU policies and Human Rights Law. The case of Syrian refugees on Hungarian borders

Abstract

The number of refugees heading Europe looking for a safe place is increasing. The violations against those refugees are escalating as well. Thousands of refugees from different nationalities are fleeing their countries because of conflicts and violence. They are entering Europe through the border countries, on their way to apply for asylum in one of EU countries. The majority of those refugees are Syrian, hence, this research will focus on the situation of Syrian refugees on Hungarian borders. However, this research did not follow the same focuses of the previous literature, which are normally investigating and highlighting one part of the problem. Rather, this paper is aimed firstly, to investigate the situation of Syrian refugees and highlight their experiences in Hungary. That is why the Grounded Theory was the method employed to analyse the data collected from personal interviews carried out with Syrian refugees, whom came through Hungary before applying asylum in Germany. The analyzing of the primary data showed the violations that have been committed by the Hungarian side against Syrian refugees, according to the refugee's accounts, in terms of the international human rights principles. Secondly, this paper discusses the factors that led to this refugee crisis in Hungary. The malfunction of the EU asylum regulation represented by Dublin Regulation, seemed to be one of the main factors of this crisis, thus, this paper points out the gabs in this regulation. Furthermore, this study concludes with recommendations and suggestions of further research on the same topic, as this research were carried out with a small number of interviewees and does not express the Hungarian side's point of view regarding this issue.