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I recently assisted a Hungarian Roma (gypsy) in his immigration appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision to remove him to Hungary on the basis of his Article 3 ECHR grounds.

Initially I couldn’t fathom that the treatment of Roma people in my home country of Hungary, an EU country, could be so bad. However, after my client’s flight was stopped, I felt a sudden curiosity to explore the plight of the Hungarian gypsies and the type of discrimination they are subject to on a daily basis.

The question of Roma people has been a prominent issue in Hungary for centuries: I grew up in Hungary, and I remember hearing derogative comments about the gypsy community during my childhood, including claims that the Roma people would not be able to integrate into society, accusations that Roma children would steal from me, and questions as to why they can’t “go back to where they came from”. I also remember seeing the Roma population living on the outskirts of the towns and villages and wondering why that was the case. Of course, as an adult, I now understand that the white population are reluctant to have the Roma population integrate into their town or village centres, as they fear that this would cause havoc.

I also remember that, prior to Hungary joining the EU in 2004, one of the biggest human rights challenges that the Hungarian government faced was the question of the Roma community and their segregation from the rest of the population. I have read about a town hall in a Hungarian village that did not want their Roma population to have a comfortable standard of living, fearing that Roma from neighbouring towns and villages would decide to move to their village as a result. Thus, they made sure that the gypsies remained on the outskirts of the village without basic necessities such as electricity and water.

The Hungarian government of course tried to demonstrate to the EU that they were doing everything they could to encourage the integration of the Roma but this was merely a smokescreen. In reality nothing has changed; the Roma are still marginalised and discriminated against in Hungary.

According to official EU figures, some 7.5% of the Hungarian population (10 million) might be of Roma ethnicity. The statistics also point out that the Roma population has experienced discrimination in all areas of life be it employment, healthcare, education or the justice system.

One of the major current issues in Hungary is the employability of the Roma population. Prior to the fall of communism, the government-owned business entities were able to employ the majority of the Roma population, but since then, the private-owned companies were less willing to give work to this “unfavourable” community. The current business entities look at the Roma population as a less educated and very difficult to handle group, and so they shun them. The worst affected group are the Roma youth; I recently read about a young gypsy girl’s family being elated when she managed to get a job at the local supermarket store as a cashier, despite having a university degree in economics. I consider this disgraceful in 21st century Hungary: a country that is part of the EU.

According to the statistics, the unemployment rate within the Roma population was 5 times greater in 2016 than amongst their white Hungarian counterparts. The government, in response to this, quickly introduced the controversial “public worker” scheme amongst the gypsy population, which essentially translates into a “work hard and get peanuts” scheme. This is yet another smokescreen in case the EU comes knocking on Hungary’s door asking for accountability.

The gypsy community’s living arrangements are as equally dismal. The Roma population live in ghetto-style accommodation without any basic necessities and local authorities (owing to a lack of money and effort) are unable to handle the situation. According to the statistics one-third of the Roma population live in segregated circumstances and what is most alarming is the plight of the Roma children who do not even have the opportunity to better their lives or achieve a decent standard of living. They will encounter the same fate as their parents, grand-parents, great-grandparents and so forth. I’ve come across a case where the local authority raised the price of rent to such an extent that the Roma family could no longer afford to pay the rent, leading to their eviction from the property. The local authority needed the place for a more “desirable” white family, and there was little point in complaining, because people of Roma ethnicity in Hungary frequently have their problems ignored.

The education system is extremely difficult for gypsy children in Hungary. I’ve come across a school in a Hungarian town where the Roma kids are segregated on the ground floor, using the old ‘chalk and black board’, whilst on the upper floors, white children use the modern ‘white board and pen’. If this is not stark discrimination then I don’t know what is. Some local authorities will deliberately ask schools to teach Roma children in their own native language (Romani) and by doing so they hinder potential for successful integration.

In summary, there is no clear-cut solution to the Roma question but one thing is for sure, the Hungarian government is not doing enough to integrate the Roma population successfully and to stop the discrimination that the gypsies encounter in all walks of life.

Gabor Nagy, the author, is a Director in the Duncan Lewis Immigration Department. He handles all aspects of immigration and asylum work alongside Public Law. Gabor is qualified under the Law Society Immigration & Asylum Accreditation Scheme as a Senior Caseworker, which allows him to specialise in Immigration & Nationality Law and provide specialist legal help for publicly funded work under the firm’s LAA franchise.

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