By Ryan Whyte, Louise Requin / GICJ
On 16 November, The European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary is breaching EU law by making it a criminal offense for people or organizations to help migrants and refugees apply for asylum.
The so-called “Stop Soros” law, named after Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, was passed by the Hungarian Parliament in June 2018 and has created a new crime defined as “the promotion and support of illegal immigration”. The bill has been named by right-wing politicians after George Soros, a Jewish Holocaust Survivor who defends the plight of refugees and their access to asylum in Hungary.
The vaguely worded law criminalizes activities which range from helping an undocumented person with housing or administration to donating to a homeless undocumented person on the street. It is yet another manifestation of the government’s rejection of refugees and in the country. George Szirtes, a Hungarian-born British translator and poet has described the political climate under Viktor Orbán as a “return to the 1930’s” as his government’s continuous xenophobic rhetoric has stoked fear of migrants in the country”
In September 2015, Orbán stated that: “Europe is being threatened by massive immigration on an unprecedented scale. Today we are talking about hundreds of thousands, but next year we will be talking about millions, and that will never end”.
Since then, this type of anti-migrant vitriol has transcended into public discourse and now features prominently within the Hungarian legal system. This constant misrepresentation of contemporary migration is based on the pervasive, imaginary “snowball effect” that accepting asylum-seekers into Europe will cause a major security crisis. However, obligations towards asylum applicants are humanitarian demands rooted in European law and basic principles of dignity and human solidarity. The Court of Justice stated that Hungary’s law has failed to fulfill its EU obligations on the grounds that the law restricts “the right of applicants to international protection and the right to communicate with those persons”, as well as the right of the migrants themselves to consult a legal adviser or counselor.”
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) fully supports the decision of the Court of Justice and calls for more to be done to stop the systematic attempts to dehumanize and ostracize refugees and asylum seekers within the EU. Furthermore, GICJ warns against the growing trends of criminalization of solidarity across Europe. The freedoms of association, expression and assembly must be attainable for civil society organizations which are delivering emergency help and covering the basic needs of migrants and refugees. GICJ reiterates its concerns about the misrepresentations of migration in Europe as a threat to internal security and calls on the UN and the international community to prioritize the human rights of all migrants.
Justice, Human rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice
Justice, Human rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice
