In June, a tent camp for asylumseekers was opened in Nagyfa in Hungary, and now there is also a tent camp within the refugee camp in Bicske. No bathrooms or kitchens are provided, and the July heat is suffocating. Notably, Bicske is a pre-iuntegration camp for recognized refugees, supposedly a place to sort out bureaucratic paperwork, study Hungarian, look for employment. Many projects are funded by the European Refugee Fund for recognized refugees. Now the Hungarian Government is also placing asylum seekers in the camp. We wonder what sort of report the Ministry of the Interior will prepare for the EU, explaining how they used the integration funds.
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The Migráns Szolidaritás Csoport (Migrant Solidarity Group) is sad to see the Afghans with refugee status from the Hungarian state leave Hungary. We tried everything we could to help them find a better life here, but in the end they had no other choice but to leave Hungary.
We helped them to find dialogue with the Hungarian state and OIN, discuss their problems with important NGOs like UNHCR and Menedek, helped and supported them with organizing protests in Budapest - including at the Hungarian Parliament, the Interior Ministry, the EU Ház. And we appealed for support from the Hungarian public and activist community. In the end, all this was not enough. We believe this is Hungary's loss. These are good people who have survived terrible situations resulting in them coming to Hungary. And while they received different forms of refugee status, this was not enough for them to settled down and make a life here. They need job opportunities, real medical, social and educational support and housing solutions that do not include homeless shelters. The 'solution' of homeless shelters which was proposed and supported by the Hungarian state (OIN) and other NGOs was the insult they could not accept. Sadly they have left Hungary and have put their hopes to other countries in the EU. While the OIN may be relieved these 'problem' Refugees are gone, the real problem of overcrowding at the Bicske Camp (and other open camps in Hungary) is still not solved. Just like sending these refugees to the overcrowded Budapest homeless shelters was not a solution, either. We have reports from Bicske that the camp is already too crowded with approximately 500 persons - when in 'normal' times the camp hold half that number. So, the number will drop from 500 to a still overcrowded 400. This is still a shameful way to treat people who have been recognized by the Hungarian state of deserving a welcome to Hungary. And, again, sadly this may not be the last we hear of these refugees. It is possible that they will be caught and rejected by the other EU countries they attempt to settle in. Deportation back to Hungary is a clear possibility for them, despite how poorly they have been treated here. Hungary is no longer a safe country for refugees - the Hungarian state is clearly not capable of doing the bare minimum for them or for protecting their human rights. Migráns Szolidaritás will continue its work in supporting these refugees and other migrants who come to Hungary seeking a better life. We, the refugees previously living in the Bicske Reception Centre (Hungary) decided to leave Hungary and apply for asylum in Germany. We decided to leave Hungary because all our attempts (listed below) to seek help to live a normal life as refugees in Hungary have failed.
We started to call the attention of the decision-makers to the hopeless perspectives of refugees’ integration in Hungary already in November 2012 by protesting two times in front of the Parliament and sending letters to the Ministry of Interior, the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Interior answered that we could stay in Bicske camp until 31 March 2013, but our concerns were left unanswered and no fundamental change has been made to give us a real chance of integration in Hungary. In January 2012 we have turned to the UNHCR to seek support in our struggle. On 19 February 2013 we filed a complaint to the Commission of the European Union against Hungary. In our complaint, we listed numerous violations of EU-legislation, and we also protested on the same day in front of the House of the European Union in Budapest to raise awareness about our situation. The only result of the protest and the complaint was, that the meeting with the UNHCR scheduled for the next day was suddenly not approved by the OIN, the authority which did not let us have our personal meeting in the Bicske Reception Centre on 20 February. On the Situation of the Refugees living in the Bicske Reception Centre Awaiting Homelessness19/4/2013 It has been now 18 days since the 92 refugees were asked to leave the camp without future accommodation. They decided to stay until an acceptable solution is found by the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN).
During this period the tension has increased. These refugees do not receive the money support anymore and the especially vulnerable refugees with health problems do not get any more medication from the camp which could result in their chronic diseases becoming lethal. The social workers do not seem to help them anymore to find a place since they have to take care of the new refugees arriving from the Reception Centre of asylum-seekers in Debrecen to the Bicske camp. The police comes every night and day and checks the refugees' rooms (not only of those 92) using flashlights through the window. On Wednesday, 17 April, 2013, a meeting took place with UNHCR and some refugees in order to find a solution. However, there was no place for negotiation and the only option offered by UNCHR for the refugees was to cooperate with OIN and to accept the homeless shelters offered to them by the OIN. However, no guarantees were given by neither UNHCR nor the OIN to ensure that there is enough places available for 92 people. The OIN did not mention anything regarding the permanent address card – which is necessary for future integration plans e.g. applying for the Hungarian citizenship. The OIN threatened the refugees to send the police to the camp and to take refugees' children away since refugees "will not be able to take care of their children living on the streets". The 92 refugees were asked to give an answer within a day and on 18 April, 2013, they let UNHCR know that they do not want go to the shelters for many reasons. The tension is increasing in the camp. Today over 100 refugees are more afraid that they will be put out of the camp by police. They have to choose between becoming homeless in a shelter or becoming homeless on the street. On 2nd April 2013, 92 refugees have to leave the Refugee Reception Centre in Bicske with the majority of them not knowing where to go, nor why was the Hungarian state incapable of providing them with respectable housing. Since 2012 November, there have been demonstrations and private meetings in which the refugees have been trying to draw the authorities' attention to the fact that Hungary gives no chances for integration. Instead, the system pushes refugees to the streets, to the sphere of urban poverty. Those who wish to avoid this experience, can only choose to go to the West, and pass on the responsibility of Hungary on the shoulders of the European Union.
For those refugees who are single, the state has offered a place in a temporary homeless shelter. The shelters do not encourage integration to Hungarian society at large, as refugees do not wish to start their life in Hungary as homeless, one of the most oppressed category in Hungary today. It was not in vain that the demonstrating refugees raised their voices, but so far the state has not offered any durable solution to this enduring state of crisis. Tuesday, 2nd April 2013, may become the black day of Hungarian refugee affairs. In order to avoid that, these 92 people granted international protection by the Hungarian society all the possible public attention and support in what might turn out one of the most difficult days in their lives. The atmosphere in Bicske right now is quiet but tense. On April 2nd, 2013, the 92 refugees and people under subsidiary protection - among them many families with children - were not evicted by force by the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN). Instead, there is another strategy in place. The people in the camp are not receiving any benefits, no healthcare, no food, but most importantly, no information of what are the plans of OIN with regards to them. Moreover, the families are being threatened that the state will take away the children, because the families cannot independently take care of them. The 92 people are being completely overlooked, while the more than 70 newly arrived refugees from the camp in Debrecen are being told to avoid contact with the aforementioned 92.
The Refugees from the Bicske camp will demonstrate in front of the EU House this Tuesday 19th of February from 12.00 to 15,00. Since Hungarian government gave them refugees’ status they want the chance to make a living in Hungary. This means access to decent housing but also job and school opportunities. They already protested in front of the Parliament last November without getting any acceptable answer this is why this time they address their requests to European Union.
They will tell the EU that integration in Hungary is impossible within the present framework. The refugees are required by the government leave Bicske camp without accommodation prepared for them outside. At the end of March around 200 refugees will become homeless. It is almost impossible for them to receive subsidies because of the impossible conditions. For most of them this 6 month long ‘integration’ means even more uncertainty. The medical help they receive is neither adequate nor enough and the current number of social workers is too few. In this uncertain environment they are also expected to integrate, to start a new life from a position of multiple disadvantages while recovering from trauma caused by persecution and escape. The Refugees from the Bicske camp will demonstrate in front of the EU House this Tuesday 19th of February from 12.00 to 15,00. Since Hungarian government gave them refugees’ status they want the chance to make a living in Hungary. This means access to decent housing but also job and school opportunities. They already protested in front of the Parliament last November without getting any acceptable answer this is why this time they address their requests to European Union. They will tell the EU that integration in Hungary is impossible within the present framework. The refugees are required by the government leave Bicske camp without accommodation prepared for them outside. At the end of March around 200 refugees will become homeless. It is almost impossible for them to receive subsidies because of the impossible conditions. For most of them this 6 month long ‘integration’ means even more uncertainty. The medical help they receive is neither adequate nor enough and the current number of social workers is too few. In this uncertain environment they are also expected to integrate, to start a new life from a position of multiple disadvantages while recovering from trauma caused by persecution and escape. Please come and show your solidarity with them at the EU Point at Lövőház utca this 19 February 2013 from 12.00 to 15.00 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. On their first protest day, on 20 November, 2012, mostly Afghan refugees gathered in front of the Hungarian Parliament to demand support that would be enough to give them real opportunities to build a normal life in Hungary. (English interviews from the first protest day). The refugees handed in a copy of their petition to the Ministry of Interior also in person. The Ministry responded the same day with merely having copied the text of the law describing what supports the refugees can get. The refugees, being disappointed and unsatisfied with the empty and cynical answer, decided to protest again in front of the Parliament 3 days later. The video, which was recorded on their second protest day, was watched almost 11.000 times, making their event the most visible action ever made by refugees in Hungary. After the protests in November 2012, no refugees were moved out from the temporary integration camp – but according to the Government not due to their protests, but due to the usual moratorium which prohibits evicting people out of the camp during winter. |
AuthorThis blog is ran by members of Migszol, it features our analyses and reflections on asylum questions in Hungary in more depth. If you would like to write a guest piece, drop us a line! Archives
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