IRCT REGIONAL REPORT 2016 Asylum seekers entering Hungary are frequently detained due to the broad interpretation of grounds for asylum detention and the criminalisation of irregular entry into the country. Asylum seekers can be detained if they are deemed a “threat to public safety”. The Office for Immigration and Nationality (OIN) has interpreted this to mean that any asylum seeker with a conviction, including for irregular entry or damage to the border fence, is prima facie a threat to public safety. This allows for the systematic detention of all asylum seekers.10 Cordelia has found that torture victims and other vulnerable asylum seekers are held in detention facilities as frequently as in open reception facilities.11 Worryingly, the amended Asylum Act also contains provisions for imprisonment of asylum seekers if they enter the country irregularly (i.e. avoiding an official entry point) or by damaging the border fence with Serbia. These offences are punishable by up to eight years imprisonment and accompanied by one-to-three year re-entry bans. The Cordelia Foundation has now instituted weekly services and monitoring visits in deten­tion centres and reception facilities, where they have now instituted weekly services and monitoring visits. Cordelia Foundationhas has even made it possible for local psychiatrists to provide care in some centres. As there is currently no mechanism for identifying torture victims, any procedural safeguards that the Hungarian legal framework may have, is rendered illusory. This is the case for all stages of the asylum procedure, including during registration at the border, in detention and in prison. Research by Cordelia shows that even in cases where an asylum seeker has a visible physical disability, authorities do not enact special procedural guarantees.12 Torture victims are also included in accelerated asylum procedures as Hungarian law allows for the accelerated procedure to be used on 10 different grounds, including where persons are “presenting false documents”. These grounds are so broad that they apply to many (perhaps even a majority) of the asylum seekers arriving in Hungary. “Asylum seekers at detention centres are provided with a medical examination. However, we once witnessed medical examinations for 12 persons lasting no more than 10 minutes in total for all of them. This is clearly grossly insufficient to credibly determine whether the individual person may be a torture victim.” — Lilla Hardi Asylum application in Hungary, 2010 - 2015 Asylum applications in Hungary, 2010 – 2015 180,000 174,435 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 42,775 40,000 20,000 2,105 1,695 2,155 2011 2012 18,900 0 2010 2013 page 27 2014 2015