On September 27, A Város Mindenkié (AVM) held a protest and march to demand Budapest's empty unused flats and buildings to be opened up and renovated.  Migráns Szolidaritás Csoport / Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary (MigSzol)  joined the protest because we agree with AVM when they ask how can thousands be forced to live on the streets when thousands of empty flats are available?

Homelessness is an issue that MigSzol has dealt with a lot in the past.  Not only were the refugees today in Hungary, by definition, homeless from the start of their journey escaping troubles in their home countries but many are still homeless today in Hungary. For more details on how refugees become homeless, you can also see our previous blog post on the topic. 

Sadly, this is because the Hungarian state has failed in its duties, under law and basic decency, to help them 'integrate' into Hungarian society and failed to promote and work for an inclusive Hungary.  We know that refugees have been driven directly from the 'integration camps' of Bicske to homeless shelters in Budapest. The concept of an “integration camp” does not exist anymore, but the practice has not changed -  after life in a camp, refugees often become homeless. 

Homelessness among refugee population has been one of our core concerns and issues of fighting since the beginning. Indeed, in the founding days of MigSzol in November 2012 when Afghans and others from the Bicske refugee camp organized their own protest in front of the Hungarian Parliament, they were protesting the threat of becoming homeless. 

There was even a time when MigSzol drew up a grant proposal in which refugees in Hungary could help renovate and build their own housing that they need for their families.  We quickly learned that this was an overly ambitious idea for our new group!  But even then the solution was obvious: open up the empty buildings and flats in Budapest and allow people affected by the issue of homelessness (Hungarians and refugees) to be a part of the solution.  And one of AVM’s demands today is an adequate social housing system, which currently does not exist.

Homelessness is not a 'personal fault' or 'sin' but a product of the national politics and economics of Hungary which refuses to create a solution for everyone.  Politics and economics should be about inclusion of everyone and not just a few. Currently, a new law criminalizes homelessness and makes it an arrestable offence. 

As AVM states, there are approximately 100,000 empty flats in Budapest in need of renovation and can be offered as social housing to those in need - and MigSzol sees this as a part of potential solution for refugees in Hungary, as well.

Even after a series of negotiations (2012-2013) between the MigSzol refugee members, the Hungarian state and working through international NGOs, the government failed to provide a solution.  These refugees discovered what they saw as the impossibility of 'integration' into Hungarian life without sufficient social help.  

The government’s sink-or-swim policies for refugees simply do not work.  Later in June 2013, many of these Afghan refugees, many with families, decided their lives could be better if they left en masse from Hungary rather than risk life on the streets of Budapest. 

The September 27 protest naturally focused primarily on the needs of Hungarian citizens — MigSzol believes refugees face an identical neglect and exclusion from Hungarian life.

We are happy and proud to stand with AVM in the streets because their struggle is our struggle!

In April 2014, AVM wrote 12 points of demands regarding homelessness in Hungary, 10 of these are directly relevant to Migrants and refugees…

• End the criminalisation of Homelessness
• Housing is a basic right
• No evictions without ensuring a place to live
• Housing policy that gives priority to the needy
• Create an expanded social housing policy 
• Increase the amount of housing support (money)
• Every flat should be inhabited
• Dignified work and income for all
• Revise the address regulations 

This is the second in our series of blog posts addressing issues related to detention of asylum seekers in Hungary - see the introduction to the series here!

On 3rd of July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Austria’s deporting Mr. Qadam Shah Mohammadi, an asylum seeker, to Hungary would not lead to a violation of the Convention. Mr. Mohammadi alleged that deportation would lead to inhuman and degrading treatment, could subject him to detention under deplorable conditions, and that he would run the risk of being deported from Hungary to Serbia. We apologize to our readers that our reflections on the verdict come only now, two months later,  but we feel like it is absolutely crucial for us to share our thoughts, because the verdict may carry significant consequences for people's lives for years to come and also because ECHR judgements about the Hungarian asylum system are rather rare. First, let's start with some background:

Who is Mohammadi?

Before we go into our actual critique and thoughts regarding the verdict, let's look at the background of the case. Mohammadi, born probably in 1995 (he does not know his exact date of birth), is from Ghazni, Afghanistan. Six years after his father died, he fled Afghanistan and made a big part of his trip  to Europe by foot. In Greece, where the asylum system has been dysfunctional for many years, Mohammadi was not registered as an asylum seeker. Instead, he continued his way to Hungary, where he applied for asylum shortly after crossing the border.  He says there was no effective, proper age assessment completed. After a short while in  an open refugee camp in Hungary, Mohammadi continued his way to Austria, and applied for asylum in Austria. 

Migszol started a series of fundraising events this Saturday (13 September 2014) with a Market Day at the Gardrób Közösségi Vásár, in the Central Passage on Király utca. This was quite an unexpected event for the group, as charity fundraising was one of the last things on our minds until a couple of months ago. Operating on a money deficit is pretty much the permanent state of affairs for Migszol, but we usually manage to get by mostly by contributing from our own pockets and getting some occasional donations. We are thrifty people.

What happened a few months ago?

We met Guilherme. We heard about him from a friendly NGO and we gave him a call. It turned out Guilherme has been living in Hungary for more than 10 years with a legal status that comes with little to no protection: he was granted a ‘tolerated stay’ (befogadott) in Hungary, a confusing legal status that is hard to understand even for people dealing with asylum issues.

Guilherme can stay in Hungary but he does not have the right to work, receive health care or social assistance. He has a terrible health problem as his legs are amputated below the knees, his prosthetics are old and they hurt him. And, because he is not allowed to work, he does not have a stable income. When Migszol heard of this terrible situation, we contacted several organizations who might have the institutional and financial resources to help. Unfortunately none of them were able to help.

Because we are so outraged that Guilherme was left to fend for himself without being given the means to do that, we decided to try to raise the money ourselves. So here we are now, asking for money and for help — fundraising. We thought of selling food, throwing parties and one of our members suggested participating in Gardrób Közösségi Vásár. We contacted them, and fortunately they were friendly and offered us a free table at their next event. Then we collected donated clothes, hangers, a metal stand, and a bike trailer from Cyclonomia and there we were, on our way to the market!