ECRI and the State of Hate in Hungary
11 June 2015
Hungary’s ever-diminishing international reputation took a double hit from the European Union within the space of two days. Hot on the heels of a damning ECRI report on racism in Hungary published on Tuesday June 9, came the harshest condemnation yet from the European Parliament concerning Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s illiberal excesses.
In a resolution passed on Wednesday June 10, the Parliament called on the Commission to “immediately initiate an in-depth monitoring process on the situation of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and to report back on this matter to the European Parliament and Council before September 2015”. MEPs condemned Orbán’s repeated statements on the possible reintroduction of the death penalty; and denounced the so-called public consultation on migration as ‘highly misleading, biased and unbalanced’.
The report published a day earlier by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) stands as a withering indictment and testament that something really is rotten in the state of Hungary. It calls on the authorities to take resolute action against hate, and to enforce the law against those who would threaten or discriminate against Roma, LGBT persons, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.
Around 22% of all asylum seekers are deprived of their liberty, mostly in asylum detention facilities with very poor living conditions, harsh treatment by guards and lack of access to legal aid or assistance from civil society. This includes asylum-seeking families with children.
ECRI also notes that there is no government strategy or action plan to promote tolerance and combat discrimination against LGBT persons in Hungary, despite evidence of prejudice in various fields of everyday life.
While the report details the violent racist and homophobic acts perpetrated by neo-Nazis, and the anti-Semitic and anti-Roma hate speech favoured by Jobbik (now the second-largest party in Hungary), it notes “that hate speech is not restricted to extremist parties and groups but occurs across the political spectrum. On some occasions calling for counter speech the authorities have remained silent. As a result of the climate of impunity, derogatory remarks about Roma, Jews, LGBT persons, asylum seekers and refugees have become commonplace in the public sphere.”
ECRI calls on the Hungarian authorities to take steps to eliminate desegregation in education and to halt the practice of placing Roma children without genuine disabilities in schools for the mentally disabled. The report urges central Government to take action wherever local authorities attempt to force Roma out of social housing or evict them from their homes without ensuring suitable alternatives, or subject them to direct or indirect discriminatory treatment.
In its most direct challenge to the ruling Fidesz party, ECRI expresses its concern that “by not responding to intolerant discourse, the authorities are complicit in legitimizing it and aggravating intolerance towards vulnerable groups in the general population.” The situation is such that according to ECRI, public figures feel free to air personal and prejudiced views without any consequences. ECRI calls on the Hungarian authorities to address these alarming trends, and to take a leading public stance to unequivocally condemn all speech that incites discrimination or hostility. Political leaders on all sides are urged to take a firm and public stance against the expression of racist and homophobic hate speech and react to it with a strong counter-hate speech message.
The report covered the situation in Hungary up to December 12, 2014. The hopes expressed by ECRI that the Hungarian authorities might adhere to democratic norms vis-à-vis minority rights and anti-discrimination have already proven unfounded. The intervening months have seen the government step up xenophobic hostility against migrants; the Supreme Court rule that religious run schools can segregate Romani children; and the Fidesz Mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós describe the forthcoming annual Gay Pride March as “unnatural, distasteful” and “incompatible with the graceful historical environment of Andrássy Avenue”.
In this latest resolution the European Parliament called upon the European Commission to closely monitor rule of law violations by Orbán’s government and to enforce the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaties in Hungary. It is to be hoped that the Commission will act promptly and go the distance to halt this government in its drive to divide, discriminate and dismantle democracy from within, and from inside the European Union.
