Hungary: Opinion Editorial by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
“Last week, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, said it was "slanderous" and "unacceptable" of me to call
his Prime Minister a racist. He claimed I had "accused Hungary of being comparable to the worst dictatorships of the
last century" and demanded I resign.
What had I said? "The security state is back, and fundamental freedoms are in retreat in every region of the world.
Shame is also in retreat. Xenophobes and racists in Europe are casting off any sense of embarrassment – like Hungary's
Viktor Orbán who earlier this month said 'we do not want our colour... to be mixed in with others'. Do they not know
what happens to minorities in societies where leaders seek ethnic, national or racial purity?"
And I stand by every single word.
Mr Orbán's speech on 8 February to a group of city councils was a clear-cut statement of racism. It is an insult to
every African, Asian, Middle Eastern or Latin American woman, man and child. The belief that mixing races creates an
ineradicable and damaging taint was once widespread in many countries; in parts of the US, as well as South Africa,
miscegenation laws were integral to the humiliation and oppression of people termed of "lesser races". But that era is
long dead – or should be. To hear it unabashedly expressed by the leader of a modern, European Union country should
outrage every one of us.
But we are growing accustomed to the stoking of hatred for political profit. And this is Viktor Orbán's stock in trade.
The latest census indicates 1,064 men and 260 women from Africa living in all of Hungary; a total 10,559 people from all
of Asia; and apparently so few from the Middle East that they were not even counted. But Mr Orbán has managed to portray
Muslims and Africans as an existential menace to Hungarian culture – a threat he alleges is masterminded by the
Hungarian-American financier George Soros. Last year a so-called consultative survey by the Hungarian government
propagated a series of falsehoods in the form of questions such as "George Soros wants to convince Brussels to resettle
at least one million immigrants from Africa and the Middle East annually on the territory of the European Union,
including Hungary: Do you support this?" and "The goal of the Soros plan is to diminish the importance of the language
and culture of European countries to make the integration of illegal immigrants happen sooner: Do you support this?"
Mr. Orbán's racial rhetoric is increasingly delusional: in his State of the Nation Address of 18 February, he claimed
that Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, "recently let slip that some years ago they
secretly launched a programme to breed a Soros-like human race, or, as they modestly put it – if I can pronounce the
term – Homo sorosensus... I realised that from their point of view, from the viewpoint of the Soros types, we indigenous
people who have our own countries, our own culture and our own religion – things for which we will fight tooth and nail
– are individuals beyond redemption."
Cultivation of a siege mentality among majority populations is a marker of today's ethno-populism. It creates a sense of
overwhelming grievance, with an indicated outlet for that rage. And it shores up power. According to a 2016 Pew Research
Centre study, 72% of Hungarians have an unfavourable view of Muslims – the highest rate in Europe. This support for
Orbán's posturing on migrants helps him to advance his vision of an “illiberal democracy,” governed "not by a dualistic
field of force bringing with it never conclusive and divisive debates" but by "a great governing party... a central
field of force, which will be able to articulate the national issues... without the constantly ongoing wrangling.”
The Orbán government has dismantled checks and balances, politicized the country's Constitutional Court and restricted
its powers, and undermined the independence of the judiciary and the press. Recent legislative proposals will further
curtail an already restricted space for civil society activism, giving the Interior Ministry the right to ban any group
which works on behalf of migrants; subjecting them to punitive taxes if they receive foreign funding (which could
include EU funds); and potentially banning them from going within 8km of border areas. Even before this latest package,
the European Union had instituted multiple infringement proceedings against Hungary for measures potentially violating
the rule of law and fundamental freedoms.
So yes, I did call the increasingly authoritarian – though democratically elected – Viktor Orbán a racist and xenophobe.
I did not, in point of fact, compare him to 20th century dictators, because there are plenty of examples around us today
of the horrors that awake when minorities are vilified or abused. And no, I will not resign "with no delay", as a letter
from his Minister demanded. Because it is time to stand up to the bullies of Mr Orbán's ilk. Hatred is a combustible
force; and it will not win – not in Europe; and not today.”
ENDS