HUNGARY - realist

• Hungary is a party to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol
• • In 2015, Hungary began building a fence along the border with Serbia to stop refugees - the fence is 175 km long and is 4 metres high, at a cost of $106 million. PM Orbán: ‘immigration and migrants damage Europe’s security’ 
• article 31 of the refugee convention 


  contracting States shall not apply to the movements of such refugees restrictions other than those which are necessary
• VIOLATIONS OF ARTICLE 31

  In 2018, an amendment was made to the Asylum Act called ‘Stop Soros’ law, which prevented people from applying for asylum in Hungary if they arrived from a country of origin or transit country where their life and freedom were not a risk
• Following the European Court of Justice decision in 2021, PM Orbán stated that ‘we will not do anything to change the system of border protection… We will maintain the existing regime, even if the European court ordered us to change it.’
• • In May 2020, legislation was introduced requiring people seeking protection to first express their intent in neighbouring EU countries (Ukrainian or Serbian)
  • Condemned by the UNHCR, urging the Hungarian government to ‘withdraw these legislative provisions and ensure that people who wish to seek international protection have effective access to its territory and to the asylum procedure.’