BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary approved plans on Tuesday to detain migrants in camps on its border, state news agency MTI said, a step which the United Nations said violates European Union law and will have a "terrible physical and psychological impact" on asylum seekers. The measures, passed by parliament, will also tighten controls on Hungary's border, which has been a focal point of Europe's migration crisis since 2015. The southern border with Serbia marks the external frontier of the EU's passport-free Schengen area, and hundreds of thousands of people have crossed into the country. Orban's chief of staff said last month that Hungary planned two or three camps along its southern border, where migrants will be kept while their applications for asylum are processed. UNHCR spokeswoman Cécile Pouilly said that would effectively condemn asylum seekers, including children, to prolonged detention in shipping containers surrounded by barbed wire.

Source: The Star March 07, 2017 10:51 UTC