4 July 2018| Open Democracy| Mohamed Elmaazi
Hungary is at the forefront of delivering nativist and xenophobic laws that target refugees, migrants, and those that assist them. But the state is only a canary in the coal mine.
On World Refugee Day, 20 June 2018, Hungary passed anti-migrant laws championed by right-wing nationalist Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. The Hungarian parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass the legislative package by 180 votes 18. Amnesty International blasted the laws as ‘draconian’. The UN has decried them as “shameful”.
The Council of Europe is the latest major organisation to weigh in. On 25 June it demanded that the rules pertaining to “illegal immigration” be ‘repealed’. On 26 June 2018, it released its full report.
Criminalising support for refugees
The new laws target individuals and groups who provide assistance – including legal advice – to asylum seekers. Those convicted face up to 1 year imprisonment. NGOs that provide advice and assistance to refugees also face a potentially crippling tax of 25%. Amnesty has detailed the new rules in an easy to read briefing[pdf].
The legislative changes were labelled the ‘Stop Soros‘ laws. George Sorosis a Hungarian-American billionaire financier and philanthropist. He has given large sums of money to immigrant and human rights groups over the years. He has also long been the target of far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theorists, including in his native Hungary.
Shameful and blatantly xenophobic
UN Human Rights Chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, denounced the laws as “shameful” and “blatantly xenophobic” in an unequivocally harsh written statement.
Al Hussein decried the ‘disgraceful’ scapegoating of people, “simply because they are foreign”.
Read the full article: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/blatantly-xenophobic-and-shameful-anti-refugee-laws-are-passed-by/