On 8 February 2019, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, intervened before the European Court of Human Rights in a case concerning family reunification in Denmark. The case of M.A. v. Denmark concerned the refusal to grant family reunification to a person with temporary protection status, because he had not yet held a residence permit for three years. In her submission, the Commissioner observed that a number of Council of Europe member states, including Denmark, have introduced restrictions limiting the family reunification rights of persons with subsidiary or temporary protection, whilst such restrictions have not been applied to persons recognised as refugees. The Commissioner recalled that the case law of the Court recognises family reunification as an essential right which enables refugees to resume a normal life.

On 11 February 2019, the Commissioner published her preliminary conclusions after a five-day visit to Hungary, including on the situation of migrants and refugees. The Commissioner expressed her concern that very few asylum seekers are able to apply for international protection, and that applications are practically always rejected due to a new inadmissibility ground introduced through legislation in June 2018. Asylum-seekers, including children, are systematically detained with the exception of unaccompanied minors under 14 years of age. The Commissioner visited unaccompanied children in the Károly István Children’s Centre in Fót. She commended the important work carried out by the staff and encouraged the authorities to build on and expand the use of the positive approaches applied by the centre in the reception and personal development of vulnerable young refugees. “In Hungary, asylum seekers are unable to exercise their right to apply for refugee protection guaranteed under international and European law. The government should open access to a regular asylum procedure, lift the unjustifiable ‘crisis situation due to mass migration’ and stop detaining asylum seekers in the transit zones at the border. The systematic detention of asylum seekers in Hungary raises issues about due process. I also urge the Hungarian authorities to refrain from using anti-migrant rhetoric and campaigns which fan xenophobic reactions among the population", she said. The Commissioner’s report on her visit to Hungary is forthcoming.