The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has decided in the case of M.H. and S.B. v. Hungary that the country’s authorities transgressed Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by arbitrarily detaining two minors who had crossed the Hungarian border in 2016.
The young individuals had been kept in detention for three and two months respectively. The first juvenile was found guilty of illegal border crossing on April 30, 2016. Five days later, after initially claiming to be an adult, he requested to be released from detention and transferred to a less restrictive reception facility. Nonetheless, his age was never formally assessed by the Office of Immigration and Nationality.
The second minor stated he was an adult at the time of his apprehension by the local authorities on June 16, 2016. The age claim changed seven days later when he asked to be moved from the detention center to an open reception facility. His age also remained unverified by the authorities, despite his offer to pay for an age assessment.
The court emphasized that the Hungarian authorities should have taken proactive steps to verify the ages of the minors. The court observed that child migrants may understandably be afraid of revealing their real ages, and that their status as vulnerable minors should take precedence over their standing as irregular migrants. It also criticized the Hungarian authorities’ failure to explain why less coercive measures could not be adhered to.
The ECHR disagreed strongly with the Hungarian authorities’ assumption that the minors were truthful when they initially stated they were adults. In its ruling, the court stated: “The court finds it particularly concerning that the domestic authorities, instead of giving the benefit of the doubt to the applicants and considering their best interests, presumed them to be adults simply on account of their having changed their statements as to their age.”
Additionally, on June 22, 2023, the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary’s asylum laws were in contravention of EU law. It found that the law “deprives the third-country nationals or stateless persons concerned of the effective enjoyment of their right to seek asylum from Hungary, as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.”