 [Aljazeera] Hungary has refused to provide food for four to seven days for asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected, prompting the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to intervene, a Budapest-based rights group told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
Andras Lederer, the information and advocacy officer at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), explained that parents from two Iraqi families were denied food while detained in Hungary's two transit zones in February.
HHC is a human rights organisation that is the only group in Hungary to provide high-level legal advice to refugees for free.
Most recently, two Iraqis were denied food for over four days, up to February 19, Lederer said. The family's asylum claim was rejected, but their deportation to Iraq has been suspended.
Earlier in February, two other Iraqis were denied food for six-and-a-half days, up to February 14.
Though the parents of the two families were not fed, Lederer said, the HHC was "very happy" their children received food, but it "shows that theoretically it's possible to provide food to these people".
The ECHR issued emergency orders, forcing Hungary to provide food to the Iraqis under Rule 39 (PDF), an interim measure which only applies "where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm".
The ruling will be in place as long as they are detained in Hungary's transit zones. 
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