"Mr. Colville said that the Office of the High Commissioner was concerned at the entry into force today of a law enabling the Hungarian police to escort irregular migrants found within eight kilometers of the border with Serbia to transit zones at the border," the United Nations Office at Geneva said in a regular press briefing.
According to the OHCHR, the wording of the law leaves much room for interpretation, which could result in breaches of migrants' human rights as well as international law because of the lack of the procedures necessary for the forcible expulsion of migrants.
The UN agency expressed its fear that the new law might worsen "the existing desperate and inhuman conditions" of hundreds of people stuck between Serbian passport control and the Hungarian barbed wire border fence.
He added that about 2,800 people had been criminally prosecuted under the September 2015 law that imposed prison sentences for making illegal border crossings and damaging state property, including destroying border fences.
Europe is currently facing a major refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of migrants attempting to reach wealthy EU member states through various routes, including via Italy, Greece, Turkey and Balkan states. Despite Brussels' efforts to curb the migration influx, many people still continue to attempt to reach the European Union.
