Ildikó Barna, Bulcsú Hunyadi, Patrik Szicherle and Farah Rasmi Report on Xenophobia, Radicalism and Hate Crime in Hungary in 2017 Table of Contents 1. CHANGES IN LEGISLATION AFFECTING THE INTERESTS OF MINORITIES IN 2017 ........................................... 4 LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS CONCERNING THE ROMA POPULATION ............................................................................ 4 2. LAW ENFORCEMENT PRACTICES AFFECTING MINORITIES IN 2017 ................................................................ 6 DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES AGAINST THE ROMA ................................................................................................. 6 DECISIONS OF COURTS AND STATE AUTHORITIES REGARDING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE ROMA AND OTHER MINORITIES ..... 9 3. THE POSITION OF IMMIGRANTS IN HUNGARY IN 2017 ............................................................................... 12 LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS CONCERNING ASYLUM-SEEKERS ................................................................................... 12 LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT DECREES ON MIGRATION ............................................................................................ 14 DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES AGAINST ASYLUM-SEEKERS ....................................................................................... 16 DECISIONS OF COURTS AND STATE AUTHORITIES REGARDING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ASYLUM-SEEKERS ......................... 19 SOCIAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR IMMIGRANTS ................................................................................................... 19 4. MANIFESTATIONS OF XENOPHOBIA AND HATE SPEECH AMONG THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE POWERS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 23 RHETORIC CONCERNING MIGRANTS ................................................................................................................. 23 RHETORIC CONCERNING ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS ..................................................................................... 25 RHETORIC CONCERNING THE ROMA ................................................................................................................. 26 RHETORIC CONCERNING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY............................................................................................... 27 RHETORIC CONCERNING THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY.............................................................................................. 27 5. STATEMENTS AGAINST XENOPHOBIA AND RADICAL NATIONALISM AMONG GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES AND PROMINENT POLITICAL ACTIVISTS ........................................................................... 29 6. THE ATTITUDE OF THE HUNGARIAN SOCIETY TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS, FOREIGN NATIONALS AND VARIOUS ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES .............................................................................................. 30 PREJUDICE AGAINST THE ROMA ...................................................................................................................... 30 ANTISEMITISM ........................................................................................................................................... 30 XENOPHOBIA AND PREJUDICE AGAINST MIGRANTS ............................................................................................... 33 HOMOPHOBIA ........................................................................................................................................... 35 ISLAMOPHOBIA .......................................................................................................................................... 37 7. RADICAL NATIONALIST GROUPS AND PARTIES ........................................................................................... 38 THE JOBBIK PARTY ...................................................................................................................................... 38 FAR-RIGHT ORGANISATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 43 8. PUBLIC ACTIONS OF EXTREMISTS AND RADICAL NATIONALISTS, INCLUDING AMONG SPORTS FANS ......... 49 SIXTY-FOUR COUNTIES YOUTH MOVEMENT (HATVANNÉGY VÁRMEGYE IFJÚSÁGI MOZGALOM, HVIM) ........................... 49 STRENGTH AND RESOLVE (ERŐ ÉS ELSZÁNTSÁG, EE) ............................................................................................ 50 ARMY OF OUTLAWS (BETYÁRSEREG) ............................................................................................................... 52 HUNGARIAN SELF-DEFENCE MOVEMENT (MAGYAR ÖNVÉDELMI MOZGALOM, MÖM) ............................................... 52 IDENTITY GENERATION (IDENTITÁS GENERÁCIÓ) AND LEGION OF HONOUR (BECSÜLET LÉGIÓJA) ..................................... 52 EXTREMIST EVENTS AMONG SPORTS FANS ......................................................................................................... 53 9. HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS .................................................................................................................... 55 HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS AGAINST THE ROMA .............................................................................................. 56 ANTISEMITIC HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS ........................................................................................................ 58 HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY ......................................................... 61 2 HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS AGAINST MIGRANTS............................................................................................... 62 ANTI-ISLAMIC HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS ...................................................................................................... 63 HATE CRIMES AND INCIDENTS AGAINST ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS AND NGOS ................................................... 64 10. GLORIFICATION OF GERMAN NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND COLLABORATORS OF NAZI GERMANY ............. 68 11. PERSECUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ........................................................................................... 74 LEGISLATIVE DECISIONS AGAINST NGOS ........................................................................................................... 75 ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES AND PRACTICES OF THE AUTHORITIES AGAINST NGOS ..................................................... 77 COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS AND STATEMENTS BY THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST NGOS .............................................. 77 12. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 80 13. RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 85 3 1. Changes in legislation affecting the interests of minorities in 2017 The Hungarian government has mainly focused on discriminatory legislation against asylum- seekers in 2017, as is detailed in Chapter 3. However, the Roma were also referred to within Fidesz’s anti-immigration campaign, for example when Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Miskolc1 does not need immigrants since “it already has experiences with them, yet those came from Hungary, or – to be exact – from the territory of Hungary.”2 Nevertheless, the general experience is, as the Roma mayor of Cserdi3 put it, that in today’s Hungary it is not the Roma who must be hated the most; “There is Soros, there are migrants and only then come to the Roma.”4 Legislative amendments concerning the Roma population Considering that the main target of the government’s rhetoric and thus its legislative efforts were asylum-seekers, refugees, and illegal immigrants, no discriminatory legislation aiming at the Roma was approved at the national level in Hungary in 2017. There were, however, two legislative changes that aimed to facilitate the social inclusion of the Roma. In June 2017, the Hungarian government decided to make the construction of the Roma Education and Cultural Centre in Budapest an investment of special importance, which is going to speed up the construction process.5 The Cultural Centre will house a theatre hall, where both musical and dance performance will be held. Moreover, the Centre will be home to permanent and thematic exhibitions, workshops, a professional studio, digital archive, a library, a radio studio and an editorial room. Minister for Human Capacities, Zoltán Balog, said the institution would be a community space for the Roma and the non-Roma Hungarians to learn about Roma culture.6 In November 2017, Budapest also decided to create a Roma Special College Council to help the development of Roma intellectuals. The Council can make recommendations and can advise the government on, for example, legislation affecting special colleges for the Roma, and it is involved in developing the Roma special college network.7 The organisation started operating in April 2018, and the deputy state secretary for social inclusion at the 1 Miskolc is one of the biggest cities in northeastern Hungary with a population of 161,000. A considerably big Roma communitiy have been living in Miskolc. 2 “Orbán Viktor bevándorlóknak nevezte a magyar cigányságot”, 168ora.hu, 1 June 2018, http://168ora.hu/itthon/orban-viktor-bevandorloknak-nevezte-a-magyar-ciganysagot-146055. 3 Cserdi is small village in southeastern Hungary with a population of