Hungary NGOs ask government to drop anti-migrant bill
Leading Hungarian NGOs denounced legislation proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government that would criminalise the act of helping asylum-seekers. The so-called "Stop Soros" package of bills will be debated in parliament on Tuesday.
Activists of Amnesty International and other civil groups hold a solidarity demonstration to protest against the Hungarian government's package of bills dubbed 'Stop Soros' at the House of Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, June 4, 2018. The bill, which would introduce amendments to the measures against illegal migration, is scheduled to be debated by the Parliament on the following day.
Hungarian civic groups are asking the government to drop a draft bill seeking to criminalise their work with asylum-seekers and refugees.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International said on Monday that the bill "criminalises humanitarian and legal assistance," threatening them with prison terms of up to a year.
Helsinki Committee co-chair Marta Pardavi told reporters that the bill, whose debate is scheduled to start on Tuesday in parliament, "has no place in a civilised country, in the EU, in a state under the rule of law."
The bill is part of right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's campaign to prevent Hungary from "becoming an immigrant country." Orban maintains that Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros and the civic groups he supports seek large-scale immigration of Muslims into Europe, charges they deny.
The government says the laws are aimed at persons helping undeserving migrants to acquire refugee status, for example if those persons were not in immediate danger before entering Hungary, or who entered the country illegally.
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