Hungary declared emergency in areas near Serbian border to check Migrant crisis

Hungary on 13 September 2015 declared a state of emergency in two southern counties that shares its border with Serbia to stop migrants entering illegally.

This state of emergency empowers the Hungarian police to detain anyone trying to breach a razor-wire fence built on the border with Serbia. It also gives police more powers and allows for the deployment of troops pending parliamentary approval.

Main elements of emergency
• Police buses will now take asylum applicants to registration centres, but if their applications are refused they will now be returned to Serbia rather than being given passage through Hungary.
• Anyone who crosses the border illegally will face criminal charges, and 30 judges have been put on standby to try potential offenders.
• The laws also make it a criminal offence - punishable by prison or deportation - to damage the newly-built four-metre fence along Hungary's 175 kilometre border with Serbia.

Earlier, in lieu of the migrant crisis, Hungarian Defence Minister Csaba Hende resigned.

The declaration of emergency is part of the refugee crisis which the European Union (EU) nations has been facing from Africa especially Syria. The outflow of refugee from Syria in large numbers is the result of civil war it has been witnessing since last few years that has led to many fleeing conflict zone.

Earlier, to tackle this crisis Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands had already introduced border controls to cope up with a flood of refugees, which warned that they could face up to one million migrants’ arrivals in 2015.

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