Since August 20, Hungary has stopped providing support to certain categories of Ukrainian refugees, as a result of changes introduced by the Hungarian government to the aid system. About this informs local edition of Telex.
The government order, published at the end of June in Magyar Közlöny, provides for two key changes:
- From now on, state support in Hungary will be provided only to those Ukrainian refugees who arrived from certain regions of Ukraine. A new concept was introduced – the “combat zone”, which includes the administrative units of Ukraine directly affected by the war. Thus, refugees from the western regions of Ukraine, including Transcarpathia, are no longer entitled to Hungarian state aid.
- As of August 21, all Hungarian humanitarian agencies, with the exception of the Malta Charity Service, were excluded from the aid system. From now on, support will only be provided through this organization.
As a result of these changes, many Transcarpathians, in particular Roma with dual citizenship of Ukraine and Hungary, may lose their asylum. In particular, on August 20 in the city of Erchi, 110 Transcarpathian Roma were forced to leave the residential complex where they had lived for two years. In the city of Erd, 52 Transcarpathian refugees faced a similar situation, and similar problems threaten other Ukrainian refugees throughout the country.
These people found themselves in a hopeless situation with nowhere to go. One of the men said: “We will not return home, because I can be taken to the army and then to the war.” Women and children could go, but without men their survival is doubtful. In addition, electricity has already been turned off in many homes due to non-payment of bills for two years. It would have cost a lot of money to restore power, and an even greater financial burden to travel home, with no help given to those who left the support system.
These families came to Hungary in the early days of the war started by Russia and for two and a half years lived on state support and odd jobs. Men usually worked on construction sites, and women cleaned private houses. This work was unstable, so the main source of income remained state support, which amounted to 22 thousand forints per adult and 13 thousand forints per child per month, as well as the provision of housing.
According to the publication, these changes look like budget savings, which primarily has a negative impact on Transcarpathian Roma. Due to the fact that many Transcarpathians have dual citizenship, they will not be forced to leave Hungary, but they will no longer be able to receive assistance.
It is not known exactly how many people lost their asylum and remained without support. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has no information on how many people continue to receive aid and how many have already lost it. In its statement, the Committee appealed to the government to allow mothers with children who applied for legal protection to remain in their homes at least until a court decision is made.
Ending support for asylum seekers does not mean they have to leave the country, as many hold dual citizenship. However, this causes the loss of assistance. Some of those who tried to go to Germany in the first weeks of the war were advised not to do so because of their Hungarian citizenship, as they could not be considered refugees from Ukraine and had to receive help from Hungary.
In its appeal, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee demanded that mothers seeking legal protection be allowed to stay in their homes with their children at least until the court’s decision. “The government likes to position itself as a defender of family values, but now we are talking about hundreds of families with small children. The government also tries to act as a generous patron of Ukrainian refugees, but it is currently evicting thousands of people forced to flee their homeland. In addition, the government likes to emphasize its concern for Hungarians abroad, including the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, but most of them are Transcarpathian Hungarians. So, the authorities have three important reasons to finally show their humane face. If this does not happen, hundreds of families will be left homeless the day after the national holiday, and the social security system is not ready for this,” the Helsinki Committee noted.
It is currently unknown how many people will remain in the welfare system and how they will be looked after by the Malta Charitable Service. The organization promised to provide information after the new system is implemented, but did not specify how it would help those forced to leave the asylum system.
