Hungary sees need for better integration as more refugees stay
Reuters AlertNet
28 July 2005
By Melita Sunjic, UNHCR Budapest
BUDAPEST, Hungary, July 28 (UNHCR) – “I know that I came by my own
decision. Hungary did not invite me to come. So I cannot ask for too
much, but a little kick would help our integration a lot,” says Arkan
Al-Hassani*, an Iraqi refugee in the reception centre in Bicske, 30 km
west of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Al-Hassani has a point. Asylum seekers in Hungary are well taken care
of. Asylum laws, reception facilities and asylum procedures are of a
high standard. But once they are recognised as refugees, they struggle
to get their feet on the ground.
Al-Hassani’s wife Armine* comes from Armenia. They met in Budapest in
2001, when they were both newly-arrived asylum seekers. Today they are a
young family with two little boys. With UNHCR’s assistance, they even
managed to bring Armine’s 12-year-old daughter from a previous marriage
to Hungary a month ago. The family is still occupying a single room in
the Bicske reception centre. They know they have to leave by the end of
the year.
“This centre serves primarily for asylum seekers and for persons with a
temporary humanitarian status,” explains Sandor Hoes, who manages the
centre-cum-camp. “The Al-Hassanis have already been recognised as
refugees. That means that they have permanent legal status and
permission to work. But they have to leave this centre. The Hungarian
government expects them to become independent and integrate in Hungarian
society.”
Al-Hassani understands this concept. He did what he could to prepare for
self-reliance. He found a steady job and learned Hungarian together with
his wife. But the finances do not work out. The young man is planning
and calculating – if he buys a house, he can have an interest-free loan
of 1.5 million forint (US$7,500). If he rents property, the government
will pay them subsidies of up to 40 percent of rental fees for a maximum
of two years. With his current salary, neither option will allow him to
cover all family expenses.
So he keeps looking for accommodation and searching for solutions, while
Armine is trying to master medical terminology in Hungarian. “I am a
qualified senior nurse for dermatology,” she says. “If I manage to do
the necessary exams, I should be able to have my qualifications
recognised and get a well-paid job. Then our situation will improve.”
“In the beginning it was very difficult for us too,” says Lucy Bajrami,
a recognised refugee from Kosovo. She works as a cleaner in a social
institution in Biscke. Coming from a Roma ethnic background, Bajrami had
to flee Kosovo on foot in 1999 together with her husband and her five
children. In Hungary, they finally reached safety.
When they were recognised as refugees a year ago, they also had to leave
Bicske centre and rent a house. “We were lucky that we both already had
jobs. We live and work in Bicske and we are very happy here.”
The children speak Hungarian to each other, and Bajrami sometimes has to
remind them to practise their Albanian language. “They are good pupils
and they will have good lives here in Hungary. It was the right decision
to stay here.”
Other asylum seekers would very much like to stay and integrate, but
they are still struggling for official status. The Turkovic* family is
one such example. Zoran Turkovic, a well-known public figure in the
northern Yugoslav region of Vojvodina, was a vocal critic of Slobodan
Milosevic’s regime. He fled his homeland for Budapest in 1999 with his
wife and teenage daughter.
A renowned expert in antiques and a trained tourism manager, Turkovic
hoped to find work immediately in Budapest. But he was never granted
asylum. “No papers, no legal employment. I did the odd job here and
there, but I could never have a real job.”
When the Turkovics’ application for asylum or at least a humanitarian
status was rejected a few months ago, they decided to give up and return
home. “We thought that things back home might have improved after all,”
says Turkovic.
But the situation soon spiralled out of control. The family received
death threats, their old house was vandalised and even their relatives
got anonymous calls. When Turkovic was physically assaulted in town in
broad daylight, they packed their things in panic and left for Hungary
once again.
“Now we have re-applied [for asylum] in the light of these new
developments. We hope so much that we will be allowed to stay. Many
other asylum seekers here move on to Western Europe, but for us Hungary
is a good country,” says Turkovic.
Not all refugees would agree with the Al-Hassanis, the Bajramis or the
Turkovics. Many asylum seekers see Hungary merely as a point of entry
into the European Union and move on soon.
“It depends very much on their nationality,” says camp manager Hoes.
African refugees usually stay. “They seek peace and quiet, a little
business to make a living and contacts with the African community. They
can have all of that in Budapest.”
The same is true for Ukrainian asylum seekers who prefer to settle in
Hungary, close to their home country. Georgians tend to wait until they
have refugee papers and then leave for Germany, where many of them have
friends and relatives, says Hoes. “Iraqis in most cases also prefer
moving on to staying in Hungary.”
Lloyd Dakin, UNHCR’s Regional Representative in Central Europe, notes
that in the past, the countries in the region have been countries of
transit rather than final destinations, in the mindset of both asylum
seekers and governments. “But now since they are members of the EU, we
expect that to change. Integration is after all a way of sharing
responsibilities within Europe.”
In Hungary, positive developments are already underway. “Integration is
a complex endeavour, touching upon education, employment, housing,
health care and many other issues,” says Dakin. “We are happy to see
that an inter-ministerial working group has been established to develop
a comprehensive integration policy.”
To that end, Hungary is being assisted by Greece in the framework of an
EU twinning project for new member states.
“Positive steps have been taken in Hungary and before long, it will have
a direct positive impact on refugee lives,” says Dakin. “Other Central
European countries will follow suit soon and then this region, which
itself has produced hundreds of thousands of refugees, will be a home
for those who need protecting now.”
* Not their real names
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress