(Vatican Radio) Human rights activists have vowed to sue Hungary at the European Union's top court after the government announced that it will hold asylum seekers in border camps made up of shipping containers while their asylum requests are settled. The container plan is part of a Hungary's tough anti-immigration policy that has raised concerns within the EU and advocacy organizations.The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, one of the country's leading rights groups, says it will sue Hungary at the European Court of Justice in every case where asylum-seekers in its words illegally kept in custody. That would likely force the Hungarian government to make compensation payments.In its words the government would do better instead to improve the quality of the open reception centers and spend this money on the integration of people who have found asylum in Hungary.The announcement came shortly after János Lázár, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief...
(Vatican Radio) Human rights activists have vowed to sue Hungary at the European Union's top court after the government announced that it will hold asylum seekers in border camps made up of shipping containers while their asylum requests are settled. The container plan is part of a Hungary's tough anti-immigration policy that has raised concerns within the EU and advocacy organizations.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, one of the country's leading rights groups, says it will sue Hungary at the European Court of Justice in every case where asylum-seekers in its words illegally kept in custody. That would likely force the Hungarian government to make compensation payments.
In its words the government would do better instead to improve the quality of the open reception centers and spend this money on the integration of people who have found asylum in Hungary.
The announcement came shortly after János Lázár, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief of staff, confirmed that the government wants to place migrants fleeing war and poverty in shipping containers. "That location would be at the border. We will set up containers for habitation along the country's borders that could accommodate 200 to 300 people and where the migrants wait until their cases have been decided on," he told reporters.
MIGRANTS DETAINED
He added that any migrants detained anywhere in Hungary without documents allowing them to be in the country will be returned across the border. Hungary is also is also building four small military bases along the border fence to provide accommodations for some of the 3,000 soldiers on border duty along with police and what are called border hunters.
Human rights activists say Hungary is already holding large numbers of asylum-seekers in closed camps and that the massive, indiscriminate detention of all asylum-seekers in their words "has not been seen in decades in democratic Europe.”
Currently, many asylum-seekers whose claims are under appeal are still placed in mostly in open camps and some leave for Western Europe before their cases are decided.
Migrants detained within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of the border are sent back across the fences Hungary has built on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia. The government has also warned that Hungary was ready to build a second, stronger fence if needed, on its southern borders.
It is difficult to get asylum in Hungary. The country granted asylum or some form of protection to 425 people in 2016, while receiving 29,432 applications.
St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów is depicted as the patron saint of Poland in a miniature painted by Stanislaw Samostrzelnik of Mogila. / Credit: Polona Digital Library|Wikimedia|PD-ArtWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 16:53 pm (CNA).Pope Francis during his Wednesday general audience invoked the intercession of St. Stanislaus, patron saint of Poland, for peace in Ukraine and Israel.Addressing Polish pilgrims in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, the pope said: "Today you celebrate the solemnity of St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr, patron of your homeland.""St. John Paul II wrote of him," Francis went on, "that from high in heaven, he shared in the sufferings and hopes of your nation, sustaining its survival, especially during the Second World War."Francis prayed that the intercession of St. Stanislaus "obtain, even today, the gift of peace in Europe and throughout the world, especially in Ukraine and the Middle East."What does Poland have to do with these wars? This co...
null / Credit: ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 17:23 pm (CNA).A trio of Catholic radio networks has filed a petition against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over new requirements that will soon mandate that all U.S. radio and television stations publish information about the race and gender of their employees.In a 3-2 ruling in February, the commissioners of the FCC reinstated a requirement that radio stations must annually file a document, known as Form 395-B, that lists the race and gender of their employees.The FCC governs radio stations transmitting on AM or FM frequencies, satellite radio and TV stations, cable networks, and broadcast TV stations. These entities are required to maintain a summary of publicly accessible information known as a public file, with varying requirements among the types of stations regarding what must be contained in the file.The FCC had not required Form 395-B since 2004, following a 2001 ruling by t...
Servant of God Nino Baglieri. / Credit: ANS/SalesiansACI Prensa Staff, May 8, 2024 / 17:53 pm (CNA).The diocesan phase of the cause of beatification of the Servant of God Nino Baglieri has been closed in Modica, a town in southern Sicily. Overcoming his bitterness due to his quadriplegic condition, Baglieri gave himself to the mission of evangelizing through the means available to him. The closing of the diocesan phase, according to the Salesian News Agency, took place on Sunday, May 5, in Mother of St. Peter church, where a solemn Eucharist was celebrated by Salvatore Rumeo, the bishop of Noto. In his homily, the prelate related that on May 5, 1951, Baglieri received baptism, "becoming a Christian."Regarding the servant of God, he emphasized that "prayer for Nino was everything: Despite his suffering, like a light that shines and burns, he managed to infect others with the meaning of true prayer."Addressing the servant of God in prayer, Rumeo said: "We are grateful t...