Category Archives: Hungary
| UN review of Hungary shows country ‘treats human rights as a public enemy’
On May 9, a stern review of Hungary’s conduct in human rights issues and press freedom was released at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report, drafted by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, listed concerns from U.N. member states about the controversial policies of Viktor Orbán’s government on asylum seekers and hate speech, as well as the poor state of press freedom.
| Not “Moskals” this time — the Nazists are threatening Hungarians with the knives
- receive education in their native language,
- do not want to learn Ukrainian,
- have a representative in the European Parliament on the list of the Hungarian party Fidesz, and
- vote in national elections in Hungary.
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**For a full report on the Pravy Sektor fight at Mukachevo, click this link.
***”Ukraine, or desert:” the word I rendered “desert” is “people-less,” utterly depopulated.
Schengen: more fences and more checks mean increasing strain
Schengen system of open borders is under strain as EU members reintroduce controls at their frontiers.
Austria says it plans to build a 3.7 kilometre fence along its border with Slovenia to control migrant flow.
It is the first time a barrier will have been erected between two members of the EU’s passport-free Schengen Zone.
Officials say the barrier is legal, as it is only temporary and aimed at channeling the flow of migrants.
Announcing the measures for the Spielfeld crossing in conjunction with Slovenia, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said a 25 kilometre stretch of fence could be up within 48 hours, if necessary.
Austria’s decision is the latest in a series of tough measures by member states which critics say contradict the EU principle of free movement of people.
The chief of staff of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s office, Janos Lazar, told reporters a fence can be set-up on the border with Romania in a short period of time. “We will only do it in the worst-case scenario and not because we want to, but because we have to to defend our country,” he said.
The European Commission has formally authorised the temporary re-imposition of border controls in Germany and Sweden.
Germany re-established border checks on September the 13th and has since extended them for six months.
Sweden re-instigated border checks to check the flow of migrants coming through Denmark.
The EU decision is similar to others granted to Austria, Hungary and Slovenia when they brought in temporary controls in recent weeks.
EU leaders held an extraordinary summit in Malta on Thursday to discuss the refugee crisis and stronger coordination with Turkey, the main transit country for people heading to Europe.
Turkey, with a key strategic position, is also to be invited to a Brussels summit to enlist its help.
The UK, meanwhile, has committed nearly 400 million euros towards a planned EU fund designed to help Turkey accommodate the two-million plus refugees sheltering on its territory.
| Hungarian progressive organizations demand adequate policies for the refugees
The crisis in Western Asia and North Africa keeps deepening. Neither the North American and European key actors in the one and a half decade-long armed conflict, nor their regional allies are willing to abandon the politics of brutal interventions, even if these are indefensible according to international law. The aim of maintaining political violence is clear: gaining control over the arms market, trade routes and sources of raw materials and most importantly oil.
The NATO and the great powers are responsible not only for aggravating the crisis, but for the civilian casualties of the armed conflicts and the millions of forcefully displaced people as well. Despite this, not only do they show very little willingness to stop the dangerous processes started by the crisis, but they deliberately try to get rid of its negative consequences on Europe – following a several centuries-old tradition of colonialism.
Massive crowds of people have been displaced by the crisis and the interventions, and some of them have been trying to make it to the European Union and apply for refugee status. What they receive in an increasing number of EU member states and Southeast European countries is persecution and humiliation. From Calais to Röszke, several brutal incidents have been committed by the authorities. The European right-wing and extreme right-wing parties and the public made hysterical through orchestrated scapegoating by the political elite and media applaud as razor blade fences are being built in Bulgaria, Hungary and the English Channel area, among others. Specific legal provisions have been introduced violating national laws, international human and refugee rights in several countries, including Hungary. Government-friendly media often depicts refugees in a humiliating and dehumanizing way; xenophobic billboards appear on the streets and xenophobic polls are being sent out to people. There are even some extremists who propose physical harm to refugees. Meanwhile, the affected states are unable to act in a common and coordinated way, they wish to grant refugee status for only a small fraction of all refugees, and they consider the ”distribution” of tens of thousands of human beings based on arbitrary quotas as a possible and viable solution. As Aimé Césaire already put it in 1950 with an immortal expression: ”Europe is morally, spiritually indefensible”.
Seeing these processes, in the name of the Hungarian progressive organizations we demand that:
The Western and European military powers, as well as their regional allies immediately end any military and political interventions, which do not serve the purpose of reducing the armed conflict and building peace and stability in the war-torn states of the area. Intervening states should create an international fund for reconstruction, the size of which is to be defined as a function of the scale of destruction. If this does not happen, demonstrations and protests should be organized.
The United States, the European Union and other intervening states should immediately transfer significant financial help to all countries providing shelter for the vast majority of refugees including Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in order to provide decent accommodation and care for the more than five million displaced people currently living in these countries.
The countries of North America, the European Union and South Eastern Europe should offer, besides the other forms of refugee protection, the possibility to gain collective, automatic and temporary protection for all refugees fleeing from areas constantly ravaged by war, so that both the host countries and the refugees can have time to reflect on the possible long-term solutions for the situation. In the present chaos it is impossible to take responsible decisions. The standards of services should be brought to a common level, no permanent differences between host countries should exist In the long run.
We demand that in host countries the national authorities accomplish fully their duties regarding social attendance and provisions. These countries should provide funds available for non-governmental aid organizations. These fiscal burdens should be carried by capital owners from their own incomes as they are the greatest beneficiaries of the current geopolitical skirmish. They should do so in order to avoid that social service systems in host societies suffering damages and a pitched battle which might begin among several vulnerable social groups. According to our view, it is a real danger that right-wing and extreme right-wing forces will turn local populations against refugees through the tactics of nationalist psychosis and, consequently, detract attention from the existing social and class conflicts.
Vulnerable migrant groups should be provided with jobs in productive and service organizations operating on a social basis and providing satisfactory working conditions. This way it might be avoided that Western companies contract newcomers and defenceless migrants in a way that would further worsen the already precarious working conditions of the transnational migrant working class.
In our endaevour to achieve these goals, we expect the support of Hungarian, North American and European trade unions and other progressive civic groups. The signatories invite civic groups, trade unions and other progressive organizations to join our declaration ( )and the list will be published on the website of Eszmélet, a Hungarian critical journal (http://eszmelet.hu/en/)
Statement by Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Refugee Crisis in Europe
8 September 2015
We have met the authorities here in Budapest and have offered UNHCR’s assistance to deal with the increasing number of refugees and migrants arriving in Hungary.
We have repeated our call for simplifying and streamlining registration, reception at the collection points, registration centres and reception centres and care for those who come to seek international protection.
