Hungary Passes Law Banning Help for Asylum Seekers

The Hungarian parliament has passed a new law that criminalises lawyers and activists who help asylum seekers. The bill allows for the imprisonment of anybody aiding undocumented migrants.

The laws called the 'Stop Soros' bill, targets rights groups, activists and NGOs, and criminalises the act of assisting migrants, allowing for the incarceration of individuals, or the banning of organisations. In addition to the bill, the parliament also passed a constitutional amendment stating that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary.

The vote of the 'Stop Soros' law saw 160 lawmakers vote in favour, with just 18 voting against it. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has named the legislation the "Stop Soros law", after the billionaire philanthropist it accuses of supporting Muslim migrants.

The BBC reports that legal experts from the Council of Europe human rights organisation appealed for the vote to be postponed until they had submitted a review of the measures on Friday. A report by the Council's Venice Commission leaked to the BBC said the Hungarian legislation "criminalises organisational activities which are not directly related to the materialisation of the illegal migration".

The UN’s refugee agency said the package of laws, if passed, would “deprive people who are forced to flee their homes of critical aid and services, and further inflame tense public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes”.

International Human Rights Organizations have slammed the Hungarian government’s action, "Criminalising essential and legitimate human rights work is 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 International's Europe director Gauri van Gulik said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch has called for Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party to be expelled from the European People’s party grouping in the European parliament if the package of laws is passed.

Orban’s Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in parliament last month after campaigning almost exclusively on an anti-migrant platform. In a tragic irony, the laws were passed by the Hungarian Parliament on World Refugee Day.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 01:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).