Fifteen more Hungarian Roma receive asylum in France

15 August 2001

According to reports in the Hungarian press on April 20, 2001, three more Romani families have been granted asylum in France. Six more adults and nine children from the Zámoly group who fled Hungary in July 2000, claiming persecution in Hungary, have received refugee status, leaving seven people from the original group without a decision as of August 24, 2001. Earlier, fifteen Roma from Hungary had been recognised as refugees in France. In response to earlier decisions to grant asylum to members of the Zámoly group, a Hungarian government spokesman, Mr Gábor Borókai, commented that the French authorities' decision was "unfounded, inequitable and unjust", according to reports in the Hungarian national daily newspapers Magyar Nemzet, Népszabadság,and Népszava.

(Magyar Hírlap, Magyar Nemzet, Népszabad-ság, Népszava, Roma Press Center)