EU rights agency criticises Orbán cabinet anti-Soros campaign, anti-Semitism in Hungary

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has issued its annual report on discrimination in the bloc and referred to the Hungarian government’s advertisement campaign that focused on US billionaire George Soros as anti-Semitic.

The agency said anti-Semitism took many forms, noting that the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) had called on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to stop the government’s campaign against Soros.

Meanwhile, referring to Hungary’s Equal Opportunity Authority, the report noted that

more than one-third of Hungarians interviewed had experienced some kind of discrimination, for instance, due to their origin or age.

The agency also referred to police action in the context of migration through the Western Balkans, insisting that asylum seekers had been maltreated yet no police officer or border guard involved had been sentenced. The agency said EU member states were obliged to ensure safeguards and investigate all cases thoroughly.

The FRA said that with the exception of unaccompanied minors, Hungary placed almost all asylum seekers in border transit zones. This, it added, was considered deprivation of freedom under international and European law, since the asylum seekers were only able to leave the camps by stepping back into Serbia.