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Hungary Adopts Law Criminalizing Charity Helping Asylum Seekers

  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sits before vote on the 'Stop Soros' package of bills at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, June 20, 2018.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sits before vote on the 'Stop Soros' package of bills at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, June 20, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 June 2018
Opinion

The package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18.

Hungary's parliament adopted Wednesday a package of laws penalizing charity groups that help migrants, a key proposal of racist-nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

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Dubbed the 'Stop Soros' laws after liberal U.S. billionaire George Soros, who the government believes organizes mass immigration to undermine Europe, the package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18.

The government says the laws are aimed at people helping undeserving migrants to acquire refugee status, for example, if those persons were not in immediate danger before entering Hungary, or who entered the country without documentation.

The Hungarian chapter of rights pressure group Amnesty International, which could find itself targeted under the new laws, called them "a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them."

"It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty said in a statement.

The 'Stop Soros' laws were promised by Orban in the lead-up to a parliamentary election in April, in which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won a third consecutive term by a landslide.

The campaign was dominated by anti-migrant and anti-Soros messaging on pro-government media.

Parliament, where Orban's party Fidesz has a two-thirds majority, also passed on Wednesday a constitutional amendment stating that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary - a swipe at Brussels over its quota plan.

Orban has also tightened state control over the media, major business sectors and the courts since taking power in 2010.

Parliament also agreed on Wednesday to set up a new judicial branch for administrative cases that critics say may increase political influence over judges. Another change narrowed the right to free expression and assembly.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights group, said on Wednesday the narrowing definition of who counts as a refugee essentially means nobody entering Hungary by land would be entitled to asylum.

"Instead of giving protection against persecution, the Hungarian government has decided to join the ranks of the persecutors," Helsinki Committee Co-Chair Marta Pardavi said.

Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth expressed regret that Hungary had not waited for the Venice Commission, an expert body, to issue a report on the issue along with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"We share the concerns of the Venice Commission regarding the criminalization of the activities of non-governmental organizations in the area of refugee aid," he said.

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