For the past seven years, pushbacks have been "legal" in Hungary, due to legislation enacted by the Hungarian government on 28 March 2017. As part of the continuously extended state of emergency in response to mass migration, anyone unlawfully staying in Hungary can be pushed back to Serbia.

Legalizing pushbacks from within Hungarian territory denies asylum seekers the right to seek international protection, in breach of international and EU law.

Both the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have repeatedly ruled that Hungary's pushback practices are a violation of the prohibition on collective expulsion, however Hungary has continued these deportations.

Since July 5, 2016, the Hungarian police have provided regular statistics on these measures. In 2023, there were over 98,000 pushbacks, though November and December saw a decrease due to a crackdown by Serbian police following gang violence at the border.

Last year, Serbian police cleared squats and informal houses, forcibly relocating migrants to the south of Serbia and to camps, ahead of the December 17 elections. These measures are currently still in place, and it remains uncertain how long this increased police presence will continue on the Serbian side of the border.

The number of asylum applications in Hungary has declined sharply since 2017, with only 28 applications in 2023, while pushbacks remain high, peaking in 2022 with 151,470. The sealed Hungarian-Serbian border and restricted access to the asylum system contribute to the high human cost for migrants.

Also read: Seeking asylum in Hungary: Does the current system violate European asylum law?

Pushbacks and smuggling

There have been over 380,000 pushbacks between 2016-2023 at the southern border of Hungary, between Serbia and Hungary, says Aniko Bakonyi, director of the refugee program at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. "People try to enter through the border fence, and then they are almost immediately apprehended by the border police and are pushed back to Serbia." 

Bakonyi says that despite violence often accompanying pushbacks, many migrants try again. She highlights the link between pushbacks and smuggling, noting that "people who need protection, all they have left is a criminal gang of smugglers to rely on."

Radoš Đurović, a lawyer and executive director of the Asylum Protection Center (APC), a Serbian NGO, tells InfoMigrants that "physical barriers, pushbacks and violence have been happening for many years, but now they have skyrocketed." When migrants and refugees are sent back to Serbia, rather than to their countries of origin, they often remain in a precarious situation and are likely to try again.

However, Bakonyi notes that this year, the number of pushbacks has been lower at 466 between January and April. This is mainly due to the police control on the Serbian side.

A recent case won by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also highlighted the harsh treatment of children in need of asylum by the Hungarian state. Hungarian police had forcibly pushed an Iraqi Kurdish minor back to Serbia without conducting an investigation.

Despite other similar rulings by both the ECtHR and the CJEU, which declared that such actions are a severe violation of fundamental rights, Hungary's regulations allowing pushbacks remain in effect.

Also read: Migrants 'dying without a trace' on the Balkan route

High risk border crossings

The Balkan route is constantly changing, explains Milica Švabić a lawyer from the Serbian NGO, Klikaktiv. One of the ways in which people are crossing the border is by using the ladders to go up and down the fence. The triple reinforced fence is about four meters high, so it is not easy to scale. "Depending on how much money you have and how much you're willing to pay for this border, people would get three or four ladders," she says.

If you get three ladders, that means that you will go up the ladder on the first fence and down the ladder, and then on the second fence you will go up another ladder, but then you have to jump. "It's quite challenging, jumping from that height. We had a lot of cases of people breaking their limbs with quite severe fractures, breaking their legs, their arms, and suffering from quite severe injuries."

Bakonyi emphasizes the need for avenues where people can enter the country to ask for protection. "We also need other legal ways to enter Europe," she says. "If you only have the asylum system as the only legal pathway, then of course, this will be used by people who have other intentions."

Those who need protection will try repeatedly because they have no other choice, Bakonyi adds. And then they are exposed to "more human rights violations with the system we have here in Hungary."

Also read: Europe finds appeal in border fences once again

Border Violence

While Serbia's northern border with Hungary continues to be affected by pushbacks and police violence, similar issues are occurring at its borders with Bosnia, as well as its three EU external borders with Croatia, Hungary, and Romania.

Švabić also notes that there were many pushbacks from the camps back to Macedonia and Bulgaria as well as a lot of police violence. "There were a lot of shifts of people around these official camps. And this actually pushed people even deeper into the hands of smugglers.” 

The violence on the Hungarian side quite drastically increased, people were reporting that the Hungarian police released dogs on them and that they were "severely beaten, humiliated, forced to dress naked," says Švabić.

Some people reported that Hungarian police urinated on them, they were destroying their belongings, and used many different ways to discourage people from trying to cross the border, before being pushed back to the Serbian territory. Similar incidents have been reported by the Border Violence Monitoring Network.

Đurović notes that in the testimonies of people that are handed over to Serbian authorities, they confirm "maltreatment, physical and psychological violence, denial of access to asylum, and violent beatings, then of course they are sending people to the Serbian police over official border crossings."

Stricter border controls were introduced by the Serbian police at the end of October 2023, following a shooting between two rival smuggling groups close to the Hungarian border.

Švabić says they also strengthened controls of the camps in the vicinity of the border, noting that people who wanted to cross the border "lived in squats, or they stayed in the forest or in the fields in these rural areas."

Also read: Is Hungary pushing migrants into the arms of smugglers?

More violence despite Frontex presence

Serbia, as the final non-EU country on the Balkan refugee route, sees most migrants entering from Bulgaria, though the route via North Macedonia is becoming increasingly important. Most migrants previously exited Serbia through Hungary, but now with the border closed, the routes to Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina are more common.

According to Švabić, since 2021 the presence of the European border agency Frontex – initially at the Serbia-Bulgaria border and later expanding to other borders – correlates with increased pushbacks and violence. In addition to Frontex, other foreign police officers are now stationed at Serbia's southern borders under bilateral agreements.

After the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Hungary had breached EU law by illegally pushing back migrants from Serbia in 2021, Frontex suspended its operations on the Hungarian side of the border. Since December 2022, Frontex has been operating on the Serbian side of the border as part of the EU’s policy of externalizing migration management.

In an interview with Pro Asyl, Švabić highlights the difficulty in determining Frontex's involvement in pushback operations, as officers are not properly marked, making it hard for migrants to identify perpetrators. Even though violence and pushbacks by foreign officers are frequently reported, it's unclear if they are part of Frontex missions or bilateral agreements.

Frontex spokesperson Chris Borowski tells InfoMigrants that the agency is committed to ensuring that persons seeking international protection are recognized and informed about their rights, in compliance with non-refoulement. He adds that officers must report potential fundamental rights violations to the agency, which will file a serious incident report.

Đurović states that Frontex also plays a significant role in regularizing readmissions, accompanied by Serbian police on fact-finding missions. However, these officers have not been recording recent pushbacks from the EU side, noting that "people have stated that they didn't witness the presence of Frontex in all these operations."

While it's unclear if Frontex is involved in the increase in pushbacks, the agency insists it respects human rights. Borowski states that Frontex has implemented "various safeguards", including Fundamental Rights Monitors, a robust complaints mechanism, and serious incident reporting procedures to ensure compliance.

Also read: Serbia police deny beating up migrants at North Macedonia border

Cross border cooperation

Besides Frontex, significant cross-border cooperation is taking place at Serbia's southern border with North Macedonia, where Serbian, Austrian, and Hungarian police forces (not linked to Frontex) jointly stop migration from North Macedonia and Kosovo into Serbia.

Borowski notes that Frontex has no direct contact with Hungarian officers, nor does it conduct joint operations at the Hungarian border or have an operational relationship with Austrian authorities. However, the agency holds regular briefings with Serbian authorities as part of the Joint Operation on Serbian territory.

Frontex is expected to expand its mission in Serbia and cover the Serbian border with North Macedonia from both sides. Đurović states, "this will be the next step in this effort to physically stop migration across the bulk of the routes."

On May 30, the Council of the European Union decided that the EU will sign an agreement with Serbia for Frontex operational activities. This agreement enables joint operations between Frontex and Serbian border guards, allows Frontex teams to be deployed in Serbia, and helps Serbia manage migratory flows, counter irregular migration, and tackle cross-border crime.

Đurović explains that while member states are determined to handle migration independently, they will leverage positive responses from Serbia or other Western Balkan countries for cooperation. However, he notes the risks, as the Western Balkans are not part of the EU, meaning EU law is not enforced, and there is less scrutiny and monitoring of human rights for asylum seekers.

Also read: European Parliament election: Party stances on migration