Already close to 20 prominent Hungarian human rights organizations, grassroots movements and activist groups have decided to protest together against the government’s plans for a fence on the border with Serbia and the tightening of asylum rules in Hungary. The groups, such as HCLU and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, will gather together on Tuesday at 18:00 in front of the Basilika, in the center of Budapest. The organizers expect over 2000 people to join the walking protest and it’s highlight: breaking through a makeshift wall in order to reach the Parliament, where the finale of the demonstration will take place.

The Hungarian government recently announced that it plans to spend 6.6 billion forints on the construction of a fence on the Serbian border to keep asylum seekers and refugees from entering Hungary. A fence will make it much more difficult for people with a legitimate claim to asylum to reach a country in which they can get such protection. In Hungary getting protection has been made even more difficult by the amendments to the asylum law that the parliament passed last Monday. These amendments include proclaiming Serbia a safe third country and making it possible to categorically reject claims from people that traveled through safe third countries while also shortening the time the immigration office takes to screen asylum claims.

Over a thousand asylum seekers try to enter the European Union through Hungary on a daily basis. This has led to an incredible wave of humanitarian civilian response in the last two weeks: several Facebook groups from Szeged to Budapest have been set up to distribute food, water, clothes, shoes and information. At the same time people in Debrecen organized a demonstration against the government's xenophobic propaganda and the national consultation on migration and terrorism. The protest on Tuesday will voice this solidarity of Hungarians and show that, contrary to what the Hungarian Government keeps proclaiming, Hungary is not a xenophobic country. 

The organizations that are included so far are:


42 Közössége Association
Amnesty International Hungary
Artemisszió Foundation
Budapest Pride
Cordelia Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims
Eleven Emlékmű
European Network Against Racism
HCLU
Human Platform
Hungarian Helsinki Committee
Jövőkerék Foundation
Közmunkás Mozgalom
Krétakör Foundation
Menedék Association
Szivárvány Misszió Foundation
Szubjektív Values Foundation
The City Is For All

The protest was initiated by the activist organization Migszol, Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary.

MigSzol is a Hungarian, independent and informal activist group that works for the social and political rights of migrants of all kinds in Hungary. Other Migszol movements all over country are all independent from each other.

For more information please contact MigSzol at

[email protected]
Tel.: +36 20 28 67 987

Last week, the Orban government sent out its National Consultation on the issue of immigration to Hungarian citizens. The professed intention of this questionnaire is to gather an accurate representation of the public’s opinion about how the government should set up its immigration policy. You can read the letters here.

To anyone reading this consultation it will become immediately clear that this campaign is a vicious piece of xenophobic propaganda. It consciously violates all standards of good practice in opinion polls, contains biased answering options, undermines democratic decision making, and aims to grow fear and xenophobia in Hungarian society by false accusations about migrants. 

We do not pay taxes for finance xenophobic propaganda. 
We do not accept that migration and terrorism are arbitrarily tied together.
We will not pretend that this consultation is a way to represent the public's opinion. 

Therefore, let’s gather together to show that we don't accept the national consultation!

Take your (and your friends’) consultation letters with you, and come to Deak square on Tuesday, 6:30pm. The demonstration begins from Deak square, will continue to the Danube, and end next to the parliament. The details of the route will be updated in the FB event.

At the climax of the demonstration we have an exciting origami-workshop, involving the national consultation letters and the Danube. Make sure to bring your copy, and many friends with you!

The 19th Budapest Pride is has its grand finale this Saturday - 5th of July 2014. Migszol will, of course, join the march to show support for the rights of all LGBTQ individuals. The Pride is part of a week long festival that started on the 27 of June. Read here the reasons why Migszol supports the Pride!

What is Migszol doing in the Pride?

Equality of rights - be them social, political or economic - is one of the main values of Migszol. Therefore we are participating in the Budapest Pride: on Friday in the NGO fair [Civil Aktivitásra Fel!)] and on Saturday in the main Pride March. Migszol is engaged in fighting for the rights of all migrants, and will march together with those refugees and migrants who represent LGBTQ minorities and for all the people in Hungary who face violence, abuse and discrimination based on their sexual and/or gender identity.  See the Budapest Pride statement below. 

The Budapest Pride March is a collective action that aims at denouncing these practices and ideas. We will be there, so join us and fight discrimination!

Migszol protest against detention was very successful. In this blog post, we address the critique of Jobbik for not engaging in dialogue with them, as well as ponder why does it matter that supporters from Budapest drive a bus to Debrecen to support the cause of refugees and asylum seekers over there - and who, in the end, are the “locals” suffering from the refugee camp.


The Hungarian radical right party Jobbik criticized Migszol for coming all over from Budapest with a bus, protesting against asylum seekers’ detention in Debrecen, and not understanding what the locals suffer. Ironically, that is totally true - we do not understand why the locals suffer. By the locals, however, we do not only refer to Hungarians living around the area of Samsoni ut,  but of course  to the asylum seekers and refugees living inside the camp and inside the detention centre. Jobbik, it seems, has not considered, while holding their political campaign speeches at the entrance of the camp, that asylum seekers and refugees “live” in the area as much as they do, and if someone is suffering from the living conditions in the camp and in the detention, it is them. Hungary and Debrecen are not providing a “favor” by running a refugee camp and “letting” refugees live there. Hungary has the legal obligation of providing respectable living conditions for anyone who wishes to seek asylum - because we all have the fundamental right to do that.


So, why did Migszol not wish to speak with Jobbik representatives on Saturday?

Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary, Migszol, was protesting at the refugee camp in Debrecen on Saturday together with a hundred refugees. The demonstration was against asylum detention and demanded closing down the inhumane detention centers and the detention system. 

A small Jobbik counter demonstration was awaiting Migszol when the group arrived to Debrecen. The demonstration march itself was peaceful with great moments of solidarity, like when the protesters were waving to the imprisoned asylum seekers who were in the detention center. After the march the protesters were raising the mood with singing and dancing together. They had also arranged books from Budapest to give to asylum seekers in Debrecen that were received with a very warm welcome. 

Harsh living conditions in detention centers have been in the media this month when the Hungarian Helsinki Committee released their statement about the cruel conditions in detention centers in Hungary. The report stated that asylum seekers are often beaten by the guards, a claim that many asylum seekers have confirmed today as well. The Debrecen detention center is an exceptional center, being located inside the territory of the open camp and thus creating a very frustrated and unsafe atmosphere for the people living inside the facilities. 

The demonstration against detention was a part of Migszol’s on-going campaign to end the detention of asylum seekers. The group will publish a series of collected storied from detention experiences in the near future. Migszol is grateful for all those brave refugees who joined the demonstration from the open part of the Debrecen camp, who shared their stories and who shared their desire to end the detention of all asylum seekers.

The Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary aims to create a more welcoming Hungarian asylum system where refugees are treated as protected people and not as criminals.

Hier le groupe Migrant Solidarity en Hongrie et une centaine de réfugiés manifestaient devant le camp de réfugiés de Debrecen contre la détention des demandeurs d’asile.

La prison des demandeurs d’asile se trouve à l’intérieur même du camp ouvert. Cette situation créé une atmosphère tendue et pleine de frustration à l’intérieur du camp.

Au cours de la manifestation de nombreux réfugiés ont confirmé ce qu’a revelé le rapport du Comité Helsinki Hongrois décrivant la prison de Debrecen comme un lieu cruel où les demandeurs d’asile se font battrent par le gardes.

Migszol et les demandeurs d’asile du camp ouvert ont manifesté pour la fermeture des centres de détention et pour un système hongrois plus accueillant dans lequel les réfugiés seraient traités en tant que personnes à protéger et non en tant que criminels.

La manifestation s’est également rendue en face de la prison et les participant ont fait signes aux demandeurs d’asile en détention. Ce fut un beau moment puisque les détenus ont pu ressentir la solidarité des manifestants.

Les manifestants sont ensuite retournés devant le camp pour dancer, jouer de la musique, manger et distribuer les livres tout en chantant : Non à la rétention! et les réfugiés ne sont pas des criminels!

Migszol est très reconnaissant aux réfugiés pour être sortis du camp de Debrecen et avoir partagés leurs histoires personnelles et leur désir de voir la fin de la détention des demandeurs d’asile.

Migszol continue sa campagne contre la détention des demandeurs d’asile avec et publiera prochainement des témoignages de personnes ayant été détenues.

Press release / Invitation 
 
STOP DETENTION IN HUNGARY! 
Protest and solidarity day with asylum seekers at the Debrecen Refugee camp. 
Debrecen Refugee Camp, 4033, Sámsoni út 149, Debrecen, Hungary. May 17, 2014, 2-5 PM 
 
Since June 2013, detention of asylum seekers is legal in Hungary. This means that people forced to flee from their home country are often jailed when they arrive here. Recent reports of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and index.hu confirmed what we already knew from our regular visits to Debrecen (and wrote 
about here): conditions in detention are also alarming, detainees are being beaten in the Debrecen detention center. 
 
On May 17 we will protest to end cruel detention and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers in Hungary. Asylum seekers are potentially vulnerable people who fled from their country fearing for their life and the safety of their family. Detaining them for not having legal travel documents contradicts basichuman rights. 

How could we expect asylum seekers to integrate later as refugees in Hungary, if we lock them up and beat them when they arrive? 
 
We invite Hungarian and European journalists, civil society and others interested to join the event, to get their own impression of how the conditions are in Debrecen and how detention affects asylum seekers' lives. 
 
The protest at the Debrecen Camp starts from 3 PM, and there will be activities in front of the camp from 2-5 PM. 
 
How to get there:
 
There will be an organized bus, departing from Budapest on Saturday morning at at 9.15 AM, Blaha Lujza tér (parking lot). If you would like to travel with us on the bus from Budapest, please let us know by Thursday, May 15, by contacting us through one of the channels below! 
 
The Camp is located on Sámsoni út 149, at the outskirts of the city. Local bus nr. 19 goes there from the center. The last stop is that for the Camp. 
 
Please confirm your attendance by Friday, May 16! 
 
More information:
www.migszol.com 
[email protected] 
www.facebook.com/migszolcsoport 

In November 2012 about 120 recognized refugees in Hungary protested against the miserable situation that awaits them after having to leave the temporary pre-integration camp in Bicske. The need for the demonstration was triggered by their realization that many of them would have to leave the camp in weeks and would have to face homelessness. On the first protest day,on  20 November, 2012 the Ministry of Interior gave an empty and cynical answer to the petition of the refugees, thereby impelling the refugees to hold another protest in front of the Parliament three days later.

The refugees submitted their petition to the Ministry of Interior one day before their first protest day. In their petition, they described their hopeless situation, formulated their demands and asked concrete questions what kind of help the Government would give them (  here is the petition). Their main demands were affordable and fairly accessible housing, fair job opportunities including the legal possibility to prove their work skills in practice in absence of school certificates, and adequate health care. They claimed that the policy of the camp is not suitable for successfully integrating them into the society: the Hungarian language courses provided in the camp are of low quality, they do not have a fair possibility to enter the job market and their post-camp money support (this is connected to the number of classes they attend in the camp) is unfair and rarely enough to survive. They emphasized that many refugees fear that the unjust housing regulations will leave them homeless.