- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Hungarian Volunteer Sees No Help From Authorities in Assisting Migrants

© AP Photo / Darko BandicA group of refugees walk on the railway tracks after crossing from Serbia, into Roszke, Hungary, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015.
A group of refugees walk on the railway tracks after crossing from Serbia, into Roszke, Hungary, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
A large number of volunteers are devoting nearly all their free time to helping migrants in Hungary while authorities turn a blind eye to their plight, a volunteer with the Migration Aid civil initiative told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Hungarian policemen detain a Syrian migrant family after they entered Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, August 28, 2015. - Sputnik International
Sense of Apprehension Gripping Hungary as Thousands of Migrants Protest
BUDAPEST (Sputnik) – Hungary is at the epicenter of a European Union-wide crisis to curb the unprecedented flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, with fresh protests erupting at one of its major railway stations in Budapest.

Some of the measures Hungarian authorities have implemented so far include building a border fence and closing off access to migrants hoping to travel further into more affluent EU member states.

"Hungarian authorities don’t help much. We have two medical rooms in this Transit Zone from them, but they don’t help with food, even with information," a volunteer who gave her first name Juli stressed.

The Migration Aid volunteer said she has been working with the Budapest-based group for over a month.

Hungarian police positioned nearby watch as Syrian migrants climb under a fence to enter Hungary at the Hungarian-Serbian border near Roszke, Hungary August 26, 2015 - Sputnik International
Activists Cut Fence on Hungarian-Serbian Border Opposing Refugee Policy
"I spend all my free time here. I come here after work and sometimes on weekends also," she told Sputnik at the Keleti station where an estimated 2,500 migrants staged protests against Hungarian authorities.

Juli described her duties, which include providing medical help, food and clothes, translating public messages, and accompanying migrants to railway stations heading to refugee camps. In one instance, she took a pregnant woman to a local hospital where the woman gave birth.

"There are many volunteers. We have a lot of applications from people, more than we’ve expected, so we need to divide people to different locations," Juli said.

She noted that certain volunteers, most notably doctors, are on the clock until midnight at railway stations to help up to 3,000 migrants that have set up camp there.

The donations that Migration Aid receives from Hungarian citizens every day amount to 1,500 food and other products, but Juli tells Sputnik it is not enough.

She argued that volunteers are unable to help migrants desperate to travel to Germany, France and Sweden, instead advising them to go to refugee camps where they can wait for migration documents.

"According to European rules, they have to stay in the country where they have been registered until immigration authorities make a decision about their status. If the decision is positive, they will stay as refugees; if not – they will be sent back," Juli said.

On its social media page, Migration Aid warned that Hungarian authorities' "underprepared and inconsistent" actions at Keleti contributed to tension and protests at the station.

The group blamed local and national leaders for putting its volunteers at risk with "contradictory" moves and announced an awareness raising demonstration for later on Wednesday.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала