Council of Europe criticises Hungary for racism, hate speech and more

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The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has published its fifth report on Hungary on Tuesday, analysing new developments and outstanding issues, and providing recommendations to the authorities. The closing date of the report was 12 December 2014.

This is important because since then Hungary has taken several steps back with respect to the fields ECRI has found so many things that need to be remedied.

Given the closing date of the report, the ECRI had no way of knowing about

• the xenophobic, biased, manipulative and unprofessional ‘national consultation on immigration and terrorism’ questionnaire (these are just a few adjectives that have been used to describe this hate pamphlet),
• Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent remark that the open reception facility in Debrecen should be wound up or turned into a closed facility;
• the latest idea of the ruling Fidesz party to create legislation to effectively close the country’s southern borders to illegal migrants. "Fidesz' parliamentary faction is considering drawing up a bill and practically making a proposal to close the southern border with certain legal means," Fidesz caucus chief Antal Rogán told Kossuth radio on Sunday. In practice this would mean that those entering Hungary from a safe country, from a safe transit country, could not apply for political asylum here.
• the currently running anti-immigrant ‘campaign’, in which the cabinet has put up billboards all over the country, saying immigrants cannot take the job from Hungarians and that they should respect the country’s laws - in Hungarian, of course.
• Fidesz mayor Máté Kocsis saying “I’m not a faggot", after liberal and openly gay politician Klára Ungár decided to “out" him and another prominent Fidesz leader, MEP József Szájer, as being gay.
• PM Orbán saying on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia that “Hungary is a serious country. It is fundamentally based on traditional values. Hungary is a tolerant nation. Tolerance, however, does not mean that we would apply the same rules for people whose life style is different from our own. We differentiate between them and us. Tolerance means patience, tolerance means an ability to coexist, this is the basis of the Hungarian Constitution which clearly differentiates between a marital relationship between a man and a woman and other, different forms of cohabitation. We are going to keep this. By the way, I am grateful to the Hungarian homosexual community for not exhibiting the provocative behaviour against which numerous European nations are struggling and which results in an outcome that is the exact opposite of what they want to achieve. [...] If we ... make more stringent regulations or the community of homosexuals starts being more provocative, I think that the current peaceful, calm equilibrium will be no more."
• Jobbik - a far-right party which is not only against immigrants, but is generally considered to be anti-Semitic and anti-Roma, although it denies it is racist - wants to ban the annual Gay Pride Parade in Budapest and it is already the second most popular party in Hungary behind Fidesz.

Summary - Positive side

The positive developments are cited on about half a page in the 59-page document.

“There are positive developments, such as the amendment to the Act on the National Assembly allowing members of Parliament to be fined or excluded from proceedings for expressions offending the dignity of any national, ethnic, racial or religious community, but concerns remain, among others the deprivation of liberty of some asylum seekers, including families with children," said ECRI’s Chair, Christian Ahlund.

On the positive side, the report notes that the Act on Equal Treatment and Promotion of Equal Opportunities is a good instrument and that the Equal Treatment Authority has the structure and powers of an effective national specialised body.

Hungary’s Criminal Code provisions on incitement to hatred and violence against a community as well as its non-discrimination legislation contain explicit references to sexual orientation and gender identity.

“In October 2013 the Government adopted a Migration Strategy for 2014 to 2020 with a chapter on facilitating the integration of long-term residents and beneficiaries of international protection. Activities include awareness-raising campaigns to encourage a more open attitude towards migrants and promote a shift towards multiculturalism," says the report.

By now this has become sort of a ridiculous statement (or forlorn if you look at it from another aspect), given what PM Orbán said about the need of multiculturalism in Hungary.

[...] we must take the issue of migration and immigration seriously, because "it will not be possible to reverse these processes retroactively:" there will be no route back from a multicultural Europe towards a Christian Europe or the world of national cultures. (2 June)

"Our opponents - I assume on the left from spite and on the extreme right from ignorance - regularly misinterpret the issue of multiculturalism, casting it in a false light. [...]

"Multiculturalism means the mixing of different civilizations. The fact that a country contains many nationalities is a completely different matter. Hungary has multinational roots and cultural backgrounds, but this is not multiculturalism. Multiculturalism means the co-existence of people with different background civilizations - for example Islam, the Asian religions and Christianity side by side. We shall make every effort to save Hungary from this.

"We welcome investors, artists and scientists arriving from non-Christian countries, but we do not want to co-exist with those cultures in terms of large masses of their people." (Interview with Napi Gazdaság on 3 June)

Yet, when he spoke to Arab bankers on Tuesday, Hungary has miraculously turned into an "open and friendly country with friendly people living in it", not to mention that its public security is one of the best in Europe, with no "no ghettos, slums and suburban areas" in Budapest.

Another positive development the ECRI has noted was that following the “Roma murders" in 2008-2009, a specialised unit was set up in the police on hate crime and training sessions have been organised with the help of NGOs.

Negative side

On the other hand, Hungary’s National Social Inclusion Strategy has had little impact so far and it does not address segregation in education. The disproportionate numbers of Roma children placed in schools for pupils with learning disabilities persists. There continues to be a shortage of social housing and Roma are often forced out in order for apartments or land to be sold at a profit. Refugees face many problems, notably homelessness.

ECRI has made several recommendations to the authorities. The following two require prompt implementation and will be reviewed by ECRI in two years’ time:

• accommodate asylum seekers, in particular families with children, in open reception facilities;
• take action in all cases where local authorities attempt to force Roma out of social housing, evict them from their homes without ensuring suitable alternatives or subject them to directly or indirectly discriminatory rules in respect of housing.

The report covers the situation up to 12 December 2014; developments since that date are neither covered in the following analysis nor taken into account in the conclusions and proposals therein.

• Tags:
• migration,
• economy,
• immigration,
• asylum,
• róma,
• refugee,
• discrimination