[JURIST] Hungary’s National Assembly [official website, in Hungarian] on Tuesday approved a law allowing the Hungarian army to use non-lethal weapons on refugees entering the country illegally. The new law allows the army to assist police in checking passports, controlling the flow of migrant traffic and detaining suspects. However, the law also permits [Daily Mail report] the army to use non-lethal force, such as rubber bullets, for border control. The EU is holding [press release, PDF, in Hungarian] and emergency summit Wednesday in order to determine the unified action of Europe to deal with the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

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. In early September Germany announced [JURIST report] that it is invoking temporary border controls at the nation’s southern border with Austria, after thousands of immigrants entered the country in recent days. Last week the Hungarian National Assembly passed a number of emergency measures [JURIST report] to address the recent mass migration into Europe. Last month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged [JURIST report] the global community to develop comprehensive solutions to allow for safe and legal migration after more than 70 bodies, believed to be Syrian asylum seekers, were discovered in a truck near the Austria-Hungary border. On the same day, Ban issued a statement [text] on the recent increase in refugee and migrant tragedies in the Mediterranean and Europe. Also in August the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants urged the EU to create [JURIST report] a new human-rights-minded migration policy to empower migrants and solve the issue of human smuggling in the Euro-zone.