NYIRBATOR, Hungary (AP) - A new U.N. report criticizes Hungary
for treating legitimate asylum seekers as if they were illegal
immigrants.

Migrants who arrive in Hungary from violence-ridden countries
such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or Somalia spend up to a year
languishing in detention centers.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees'
representative for Central Europe, Gottfried Koefner, says that
UNHCR has received "serious" reports of verbal and physical abuse
by detention center guards.

He says police sometimes subject the asylum seekers to
humiliation by escorting them to court dates in handcuffs and
leashes.

He says "no other country (in Central Europe) is taking such
extreme and harsh measures as Hungary does."

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)