The Latest: UN concerned by migrants denied food in Hungary

The Latest on the migrant inflow into Europe (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says it is “alarmed” by reports that asylum-seekers in Hungary have been deliberately deprived of food.

Numerous interim measures by the European Court of Human Rights have compelled Hungary to feed the asylum-seekers held in transit zones at the border with Serbia. But without changes to Hungarian laws, the cases keep recurring.

Adult asylum-seekers — except pregnant or nursing women — who have lost their case and are to be expelled from Hungary are deliberately deprived of food, which the U.N says can lead to malnutrition and is “inherently inhumane.”

“We encourage Hungary to ensure it fulfils its human rights obligations towards those deprived of liberty, regardless of whether they are in transit zones or any other place where migrants are detained and cannot provide for themselves,” the human rights office said.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a civic group providing legal assistance to asylum-seekers, says that since August 2018, it has filed legal appeals in 13 “starvation cases,” affecting 21 people.

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4:15 p.m.

Turkish authorities say at least two women and five children have drowned after a boat carrying migrants sank off the Turkish coast.

The coast guard said five other migrants — including one woman and a child — were saved in an air and sea rescue mission launched Friday after the boat went down off the Aegean coastal town of Ayvalik, in northwestern Turkey. The town is a main crossing point for migrants wanting to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.

The coast guard said the boat was believed to be carrying 17 people. The search is continuing to find four missing migrants and their smuggler, it said.

The migrants attempt the perilous journey from Turkey into European Union-member Greece in the hope of reaching more prosperous European nations.