Due to a government decree only those Ukrainian refugees receive state support, who arrive from "conflict zone". This makes the living conditions of Transcarpathian Roma families unbearable in Hungary.

"We were thrown out like a dog" - says a Transcarpathian refugee woman in 444’s video report in Komárom-Esztergom County, Hungary. She found herself homeless with her children on 21 August due to a new government decree after having been thrown out of her temporary shelter.

The decision affects four to five thousand people, mostly children, but there are also underage parents among them. Some of them have found a solution, others decided to go home. Those who do not have these options face homelessness.

Many of the affected people have filed a lawsuit against the Government Commissioner responsible for the decision, Norbert Pál, asking the court to declare that what happened to them is against the law. No ruling has been issued yet, but evictions have already begun.

Eviction of Transcarpathian refugees in Kocs, 21 August 2024
Eviction of Transcarpathian refugees in Kocs, 21 August 2024 Photo by Balázs Kaufmann/444

According to a government decree introduced in June, refugees from Transcarpathia will no longer be entitled to housing and basic services from 21 August. The government justified its decision by arguing that these people did not come from an area which is directly affected by military operations. Most of the affected refugees are Roma people of Hungarian nationality and some of them are dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizens.

On 21 August, in Kocs, Komárom-Esztergom county, one hundred and twenty women and children were displaced because their landlord no longer receives money from the state. The government has not consulted anyone about the decree on the withdrawal of benefits.

According to the decree, the refugees already living in Hungary could file a petition for leniency until 10 July, which meant a very close six-day deadline, in order to maintain their eligibility for support after August. The list of areas directly affected by the military operations is drawn up by Norbert Pál, Government Commissioner "responsible for persons fleeing to Hungary from the Russian-Ukrainian war", with the help of Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the Minister of Defence, and Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Government Commissioner has rejected around eighty percent of the leniency petitions, while the others have been granted a reprieve.

The government is known for boasting not only about its "exemplary" care for Ukrainian refugees, but also about its commitment to families and Hungarians living beyond the borders. The fact that from 21 August thousands of people of mostly Hungarian nationality, children fleeing war, and their parents are denied the right to housing, thus increasing their precariousness, stands in huge contrast with this allegedly caring attitude.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which condemned the decree and its consequences, is representing 30 asylum seekers in the case. They want to go to court to help these people stay and get meaningful assistance from the Hungarian state.

Those who don’t work, shouldn’t eat either

The decree is not specifically aimed at those from Transcarpathia, but they are the most severely affected by it, along with many other refugees from other parts of Ukraine whose former place of residence was not on Norbert Pál's list. As to the reason for this measure, or the way it was introduced, the government should be the one giving an explanation - and primarily not to the public, but to the people concerned. However, until the publication of this article, the Government Commissioner had not responded either to our enquiries or those of the Helsinki Committee representing asylum seekers.

According to Zsolt Szekeres, a lawyer working for the Helsinki Committee’s asylum programme, there are two possible reasons behind the measure. One of them is the obvious budgetary savings, although the size of the savings is only a negligible amount within the central budget as a whole. According to the Helsinki Committee's calculations, the support for refugees costs the Hungarian state roughly 400 million forints per month. The second reason is the philosophy that the Government Commissioner has expressed earlier: "there is no free lunch, those who don't work don't get anything".

According to Szekeres, this may be the more plausible explanation for the current changes, as the government already tightened support last year along similar lines.

Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, said in response to a question at the Government Information Meeting of 22 August that "only a minority of those affected are Hungarian", and that until now "four thousand people have been living off the Hungarian state's money without taking up work, even though they could have done so if they wanted to". Contrary to the calculations of organisations protecting rights of refugees, according to the Minister the government spends 10 billion forints a year on housing Ukrainian refugees.

Originally, all Ukrainian refugees - dual citizens or those entitled to refugee status - could receive housing assistance from the case. In such cases, the relevant county defence committee would sign a contract with the accommodation provider, such as a hostel or other type of accommodation provided by NGOs, and would give five thousand forints per day after each refugee concerned. The allowance was paid after everyone for one month, until the end of the asylum procedure or during the refugee status period. The defence committees have terminated contracts with the shelters because of the amendment to the decree - they were supposed to re-contract with the Malta Worldwide Relief, but most of the shelters have not even been contacted.

Eviction of refugees from Transcarpathia in Kocs, 21 August 2024
Eviction of refugees from Transcarpathia in Kocs, 21 August 2024 Photo by Balázs Kaufmann/444

According to Szekeres, the "if you don't work, don't eat" narrative is seriously misleading and false in a country where, due to the housing crisis, many people cannot find housing even if they work and earn money as best they can. In Hungary, one in three people live below subsistence level.

"For many people, having subsidised housing really means the difference between living on the streets and having a home".

"What's happening now is interrupting the integration opportunities of thousands of children, as they are suddenly taken out of their previous kindergartens or schools - if they could attend these institutions at all - and they have to start all over again, for the umpteenth time. This is particularly inhuman in their case," says the lawyer.

444 asked the Prime Minister's Office about the planned amendment back in April, but they denied that they were planning anything of that sort.

"I don't want to take him home because he will be taken away from me to serve."

People of Roma nationality from Transcarpathia, who are Hungarian-speaking, mostly Hungarian citizens, have often been victims of systemic exclusion and discrimination in Ukraine, and in Hungary too, but partly for different reasons - explains the expert when I ask him about the fate of Transcarpathian refugees. Many people tell the Helsinki Committee how they tried to stand on their own feet in Hungary, but under the current housing market conditions they were constantly confronted with violations and illegal practices.

"They are very desperate about what will happen to them, many of them have no alternative here in Hungary. Where children go to school or kindergarten, the despair is even greater," he says. Besides the difficulties of finding accommodation, returning home is not an option for most. They are mostly afraid of food shortages or fear that their sons and husbands will be conscripted. "I don't want to take him home because he will be taken away from me to serve," a mother from Transcarpathia, who was evicted with her 17-year-old son in Kocs on 21 August, told 444.

According to the refugee protection organisations, these people are not getting any help from the government and no one has ever told them why this is happening to them and what their options are other than homelessness. Szekeres said that many of those who have received subsidised housing are often suffering from some kind of health problem or are caring for their sick children. Some of them are taking prescribed medicines that are not even available in Ukraine.

"What is happening here is unprecedented inhumanity. All of this is happening without the people concerned having received any meaningful social work, support to catch up or educational assistance from the government since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war on 24 February 2022, which makes their vulnerability and the cynicism of this measure even more serious," Szekeres said.

When the state puts its own citizens on the streets

In previous articles, we have already reported that under the amendment to the decree, which came into force on 21 August, only people from the territory of "administrative units of Ukraine directly affected by military operations" are entitled to housing assistance. From the end of August, the state will only provide accommodation to newly arrived Ukrainian refugees - for one month or until the end of the asylum procedure - if they have fled from a place where military operations are active.

The Helsinki Committee underlines that not all refugees arrived in February 2022, many of them fled to Hungary only a year or less ago, and did so under duress, fleeing the war. When the state recognised them as refugees, it did not just give them a piece of paper with a stamp on it: it undertook the task to protect and assist them, and to provide them with basic living conditions.

"What the government is now doing to these people in need, including our fellow citizens, is a unilateral abrogation of the state's obligations in asylum policy. It also goes against EU law that people in need cannot receive any kind of housing assistance", says Szekeres. The current measures affect refugees from Ukraine in the same way, regardless of their status or nationality. Hungarian citizens are "better off" in a way that they are covered by the social law, which means they can, for example, use the homeless care system. Many refugees are not even entitled to this.

The government is withdrawing mandatory assistance under EU law from refugees who have just been evicted. Most of those concerned have refugee status, which they have received because Ukraine is a country under attack that they had to flee. According to the agreed commitment undertaken by the Hungarian government, the measure applies to the whole of Ukraine and all Ukrainian citizens will be protected, regardless of their former place of residence. The withdrawal of subsidised housing removes the very substance of this protection: the homes left behind are often no longer fit for habitation, either because others have moved in or due to attacks against infrastructure. Such attacks happen in Transcarpathia as well, even if it is not a territory directly affected by military operations according to the government.

The expert also questions whether the Hungarian social- and homeless care system is prepared for the shock that 21 August could bring. The answer, in their experience, is "clearly not".

The Helsinki Committee has asked the court to order the Government Commissioner to find a temporary residence for these people while the trial lasts, in order to avoid masses of people becoming homeless. No decision has yet been taken, but evictions are already well under way.

TEFI

This article was written in the framework of The Eastern Frontier Initiative (TEFI) project. TEFI is a collaboration of independent publishers from Central and Eastern Europe, to foster common thinking and cooperation on European security issues in the region. The project aims to promote knowledge sharing in the European press and contribute to a more resilient European democracy.

Members of the consortium are 444 (Hungary), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), SME (Slovakia), PressOne (Romania), and Bellingcat (The Netherlands).

The TEFI project is co-financed by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.