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Professor Cathryn Costello talks to Outside Source on the BBC World Service

The BBC World Service today asked Professor Cathryn Costello whether Hungary’s current treatment of asylum-seekers was illegal. She replied ‘unequivocally’. She stated that “The Hungarian position is absolutely untenable in both international and European Union law… Hungary has very clear obligations on how it should run asylum procedures in EU law and it’s clearly in breach of them.”

Professor Costello also clarified the position regarding the Dublin system. Answering the question, ‘There is no requirement to seek asylum in the very first country you arrive in?’, she replied “No. The EU has a system called the Dublin system which would confer responsibility on the first state but obviously that wouldn’t apply to Serbia… [and] Greece doesn’t have a functioning asylum system at the moment so there can’t be an obligation on someone to do something that’s effectively impossible.”

Listen to the interview on ‘Outside Source’ >>

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