• Hungary built a razor-wire fence to keep refugees out. Now, it’s desperate for migrants.

    LONDON — Hungary went further than most of its neighbors last year to keep fleeing foreigners out of the country: It built a more than 100-mile-long razor-wire border fence and in a strongly criticized practice, still sends refugees who entered the country illegally to prison.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2016/07/11/hungary-built-a-razor-wire-fence-to-keep-refugees-out-now-its-desper

    #murs #Hongrie #mur #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières
    cc @reka @marty @albertocampiphoto @daphne

    • Ungheria, i migranti oltre la rete

      Alla mezzanotte del 15 settembre del 2015 si chiudeva il muro metallico che l’Ungheria aveva costruito al confine con la Serbia per interrompere il flusso di migliaia di profughi e migranti che risalivano la cosiddetta rotta dei Balcani. Infinite le discussioni da allora sulla ripartizione dei rifugiati tra i Paesi dell’Unione Europea e sul programma dei respingimenti in Turchia. Un dramma quello delle persone in fuga dalle guerre, soprattutto dalla Siria, ancora in primissimo piano. Ma cosa c’è oggi di fronte a quel muro al confine ungherese? C’è un gruppo di irriducibili che aspettano di poter passare, a piccoli gruppi. Il reportage di Matteo Tacconi

      http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/Ungheria-migranti-oltre-la-rete-6817302c-e31d-43fc-846c-2dede85a1a51.html

    • Hungary Ministry of Defense paid own company $40 per man-hour to build border fence

      Hungary’s Ministry of Defense awarded a HUF 2 billion (USD 7.4 million) no-bid contract to build the 175-kilometer fence along the Serbian border. The Ministry of Defense Electronics, Logistics, and Asset Management company (Honvédelmi Minisztérium Elektronikai, Logisztikai és Vagyonkezelő Zrt.) reportedly billed the Ministry of Defense for a range of services related to the construction of the border fence at hourly rates ranging from $40 to over $370, writes index.hu.

      Nor is this the first time HM El has won a no-bid contract according to the news portal.

      The fence, which was justified to Hungarian taxpayers on the grounds that it was necessary to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally, reportedly cost the Hungarian government over HUF 100 billion.

      Not only was the contract awarded without soliciting bids from other companies. The undersecretary for government procedure at the Ministry of Defense, István Dankó, awarded the contract to a company over whose board of directors he presides as chairman.

      Index.hu writes that as the head of the work group within the Ministry of Defense responsible for building the fence, Dankó was also responsible for procurement. The ministry claims that by awarding a HUF 2 billion no-bid contract to his own company, Dankó did not engage in a conflict of interest because allegedly “regulations permit this”.

      Index.hu reports that the ministry contracted with HM El for HUF 10,795 ($40) an hour to erect the fence. The company charged a modest HUF 24,130 ($89) an hour to remove brush and over HUF 100,000 ($370) an hour for work performed by machine.

      In addition to the conflict of interest which isn’t a conflict of interest, Index.hu claims the following irregularities took place:

      Work began on July 30th, that is, several weeks before HM El concluded an official contract with the Ministry of Defense
      It was necessary to modify the government decree regulating public procurement in the case of the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Defense to allow the use of a company. index.hu reports that this took place in under a day
      HM El was pronounced the winner the same day the decision was made not to hold a public tender or solicit bids from other companies.

      According to Index.hu, HM El was previously awarded a HUF 1.5 billion (USD 5.5 million) contract to perform work deemed too complicated and complex for the Hungarian military, such as repairing roofs, maintaining buildings, and renovating target ranges.

      https://budapestbeacon.com/hungary-ministry-of-defense-paid-own-company-40-an-hour-to-build-bor

    • Dans ce dernier pays, plus de 200 kilomètres de clôtures ont été construits à l’automne 2015 : un mur de barbelés de quatre mètres de haut et de 175 kilomètres de long ferme le passage entre la Hongrie et la Serbie, tandis qu’une deuxième clôture de 41 kilomètres occupe les sections où la frontière avec la Croatie n’est pas formée des rivières Drave et Mur. En février 2017, une autre clôture est venue renforcer l’arsenal déjà mis en place à la frontière avec la Serbie. Celle-ci est équipée de caméras, de dispositifs d’imagerie thermiques, d’un système d’alarme, et de haut-parleurs diffusant un message d’avertissement aux personnes migrantes en plusieurs langues. Par ailleurs, le gouvernement hongrois a procédé à l’électrification de la barrière et utilise désormais drones et hélicoptères pour patrouiller. Cette frontière physique et technologique, construite sur le territoire hongrois, est située à 1,5 mètre de la frontière officielle avec la Serbie. Des compagnies privées ont été sollicitées pour la construction de ces barrières. Les contrats ont été attribués dans des conditions opaques, en recourant à une longue chaîne de sous-traitants différents et conduisant aujourd’hui à ce que certaines petites entreprises hongroises n’aient toujours pas été payées. Ainsi, une compagnie dépendant du ministère de la défense hongrois a décroché un contrat de 2 milliards de forints (près de 6,5 millions d’euros) sans appel d’offre préalable. La compagnie Dak Acelszerkezeti, ayant participé à la mise en place des clôtures en acier, a, quant à elle, déployé 500 travailleuses et travailleurs dont un tiers étaient des prisonniers. Ces deux sociétés ont décliné nos propositions de rencontres en Hongrie. Par ailleurs, des entreprises chinoises, sud-africaines et espagnoles (la même entreprise ayant fourni le matériel pour les clôtures à Ceuta et Melilla) ont été sollicitées pour la fourniture de cam.ras ou de systèmes électriques.

      Source : De Haas 2018 : 21-22
      https://www.lacimade.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/La_Cimade_Schengen_Frontieres.pdf