Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said Wednesday that Austria will take Hungary to the International Court of Justice [official website] if Hungary does not begin accepting returning migrants that crossed into Austria from Hungary. According to EU law, migrants are supposed to remain in the first country they enter, but Austria claims Hungary has been breaking this law [AP report] by allowing people to leave their country and enter Austria [Reuters report]. Sobotka made the threat as his country gets closer to the potential annual limit of allowed asylum seekers of 37,500, with around 29,000 people having applied for asylum in the country by the end of July. The law creating the cap on annual asylum seekers was finalized Tuesday and will undergo roughly a month of review before taking effect. The concerns over migrants also come at a time of increased political friction, with a presidential election coming at the beginning of October.

The rights of migrant populations has emerged as one of the most significant humanitarian issues around the world, as millions seek asylum from conflict nations. Last month the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein [official profile] expressed concern [JURIST report] over Bulgaria’s criminalization of migrants leaving and entering the country. In June the European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official website] rejected a challenge [JURIST report] to Britain’s refusal to pay family welfare benefits to unemployed EU migrants who do not have the right to reside in the UK. The judges ruled that such unequal treatment is justified on the basis of protecting a member state’s finances. Also in June the ECJ ruled that non-EU immigrants who illegally enter the Schengen area across an internal border should not be jailed [JURIST report] solely on that basis. In March the ECJ ruled that Germany may place “residence conditions” [JURIST report] on refugees. In February the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that new measures put in place by many European countries are too restrictive and place undue hardships [JURIST report] on refugees and asylum-seekers. Also in February Amnesty International (AI) [official website] warned Austria that they are violating human rights through their daily cap on asylum applications [JURIST report]. In January Danish lawmakers approved a controversial bill that will allow Danish authorities to seize assets [JURIST report] from immigrants seeking asylum in order to cover their expenses.