September 14, 2016

Hungary spends millions spreading refugee disinformation

located:	Hungary
editor:	Vanessa Ellingham

“Forced settlement endangers our culture and traditions.” This is just one of the fearmongering anti-migrant messages included in an 18-page booklet – just part of Hungary’s tax-payer funded anti-migrant campaign designed to counter a binding EU relocation quota.

Hungary has spent 16 million EUR on the campaign in an attempt to block the relocation quota that asks the country to take in a measly 1294 asylum seekers.

The booklet, which was sent to 4.1 million households, recommends that people vote "no" in the October 2 national referendum on the issue.

As researcher Lydia Gall reports for Human Rights Watch: "The booklet contains distorted facts about Europe’s refugee crisis, portraying asylum seekers and migrants as dangerous to Europe’s future. It links migration to increased terrorism and refers to non-existent “no-go” areas in European cities with large migrant populations, including London, Paris and Berlin, where authorities have allegedly lost control and were law and order is absent."

The booklet follows a billboard campaign, launched in July, with messages like, “Did you know that Brussels wants to settle a city’s worth of illegal immigrants in Hungary?” and “Did you know that since the beginning of the immigration crisis the harassment of women has risen sharply in Europe?”

Along with the 16 million EUR spent on this disinformation campaign, Hungary recently announced it would build a second "improved" fence along its border with Serbia to keep out asylum seekers who have a legal right to seek refuge, and is currently recruiting thousands more "border hunters" who are known to force refugees back to Serbia, sometimes using violence.

Imagine if these resources were instead used to improve conditions for new arrivals and help integrate recognised refugees?

Gall writes, "The European Commission has remained virtually silent in the face of these developments, despite the fact that they contravene European standards. For the sake of a Common European Asylum System, that should change."

"Sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians obtained sanctuary from persecution in other parts of Europe and North America. If the Hungarian government reminded itself and Hungarians about that history, it might help create a more positive and welcoming attitude towards those from Syria and elsewhere seeking safety in Hungary today."