The human rights NGO, Amnesty International, reported today that 500 asylum seekers are being held illegally in two camps in Hungary. This news comes as Hungarian President Victor Orban is threatening to close down multiple NGOs working with migrants in the country.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is checking Hungary's compliance with the UN's International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights this week. Amnesty International has found that 500 asylum seekers are being held unlawfully in two transit-zones on the Serbian-Hungarian border and these asylum seekers "lack adequate housing, legal and medical assistance." There have also been mass forcible returns of around 20,000 irregular migrants who "lack access to any fair and efficient asylum procedure", according to Amnesty International.
Under Victor Orban, the Hungarian government has cracked down on NGOs in Hungary assisting migrants. A series of bills called LexNGO2018 were drafted in February 2018 for debate and vote by the Hungarian parliament. If the bills are passed, the new legislation would authorize a crackdown on NGOs that receive foreign funding. These organizations would be forced to pay "exorbitant fees" on that funding. The laws could also shut down independent human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International, which raise awareness on these issues. Hungary is becoming an exception in the EU.
The Orban government also uses various anti-terrorism laws to stigmatize migrants and refugees. One example is Ahmed H., a Syrian who threw some rocks/solid objects during clashes at the Serbian-Hungarian border. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in June 2017 for allegedly committing an "act of terror" under Hungarian law. He appealed his sentence in March 2018, and it was reduced to seven years. Amnesty International hopes that "the conviction of Ahmed H. on terrorism-related charges is quashed on appeal and he is released without delay."
Last Thursday, Orban proclaimed at a Budapest rally that "The situation is that those who don't block migrations at their borders will be lost. They will be digested slowly but surely." He has argued that Muslim migrants entering Europe could erode national culture and said earlier last month that Hungarians don't want their "own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed by others", as reported by AP.
Read more here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur27/8089/2018/en/