Refugee, migrant children in Hungary "need to be treated with dignity": UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday urged the Hungarian government to always "put the best interests of refugee and migrant children first in all decisions that affect them," the UN agency said in a press release issued here.

"Children should not be criminalized for being a refugee or a migrant, nor should they be separated from their families. These children have already experienced enormous suffering on their journeys, and now need to be treated with dignity, and provided with all necessary care, protection and compassion," said UNICEF.

Following Wednesday's violent clashes on the Hungary-Serbia border and in light of reports that new legislation introduced in Hungary could result in children arriving in the country being detained, prosecuted and separated from their parents, UNICEF has offered assistance to the government of Hungary to strengthen the protection of refugee and migrant children.

The assistance could include: help with psychological support for children, through mobile teams and child-friendly spaces at reception centres and other areas where families are gathering; support for identification of unaccompanied and separated children and tracing of families; technical support and guidance to strengthen systems that can determine the best interests of children who are moving through the country.

"No one should put children at risk of harm," it said. "The scenes witnessed on Wednesday, with children caught in the middle of violence and unrest, should never be repeated."

The UNICEF said it is in touch with Hungary's permanent representative to the UN in New York to discuss how refugee and migrant children can be adequately protected in line with the country's commitments to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"The Convention requires governments to take every necessary measure to protect all children and to provide the special support required by children who are refugees or who are seeking asylum," it noted.

"UNICEF also urges all European Member States to move quickly to provide all refugee and migrant children the protection and care to which they are entitled. No single country can shoulder this responsibility alone," it added.

While Serbia struggled to decrease the pressure of the escalating refugee crisis within its borders, Hungary earlier this week denied them entry, leaving thousands of people camping in the open field in the border zone far from their European dream, reports said.

Around 3,000 people from the Middle East and Africa have so far gathered to camp in front of two border crossings, closed since midnight Monday, between Hungary and Serbia which connect towns of Horgos on the Serbian side and Roeszke in Hungary.

The wide camping zone, surrounded by a four-meter-high barb-wired fence, is now crowded with sick people and mothers carrying crying infants after a long journey, said the reports. The camp is also full of angry men protesting that Hungary should open its doors and fulfil their human rights to seek asylum in Germany, or some other European or Scandinavian countries. Enditem