Needless furore

Date

9/27/2015 1:13:40 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)Giving army powers to deal with migrants is an overreach by the Hungarian government.

Hungary has been overreacting to the influx of migrants into its borders from Serbia. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria Afghanistan Iraq Libya Africa have been streaming into Europe for months now precipitating a crisis that has been compared to the exodus of people during the Second World War. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been crying himself hoarse over the migrants crossing the borders as if they were a swarm of locusts descending on his country. And Hungary is one nation that has treated thousands of helpless Syrians fleeing war and misery in the most sordid way.

First Orban tried to stem the flow of refugees with razor-wire across the 175-km border with Serbia. Scenes of desperate refugees breaching the wire fence — risking injuring themselves and children — to enter Hungary drove home the point that it is hard to thwart the tide of refugees escaping persecution with sharp-edged barriers alone. Then came a law that made it punishable for anyone illegally crossing the country’s borders with up to five years in jail. On Sunday Hungary convicted 23 migrants of illegally crossing its border and expelled them for varying durations.

The Hungarian parliament yesterday passed a law that gives sweeping powers to the army and police to keep migrants out of the country. The law allows the army to deal with migrants by participating in border controls to restrict personal liberties and to use weapons without resulting in loss of life. The police has been vested with powers to enter homes in search of illegal migrants.

It is bewildering to see a country exert so much effort to thwart a purported threat from something that is temporary at the most. The migrants majority of them Syrians are just looking for a passage to western and northern Europe through Hungary. The Hungarian government one gets the impression is trying to create an issue when none exists. Even if as it says it is trying to follow EU rules in dealing with the refugees it is creating problems than trying to solve them.

Hungary’s treatment of migrants has drawn criticism from European leaders and rights bodies. A video footage of sandwiches being thrown at refugees or a TV camerawoman tripping up a Syrian man fleeing police with his son inside Hungary have sullied the image of the country.

The move to give extra powers to the army to deal with refugees came on a day Lebanon announced that half of school-aged Syrian refugees in the country will receive a free education. This is in sharp contrast to Hungary’s reaction to the migrants. Even Greece suffering a debilitating debt crisis has dealt humanely with Syrian refugees. Hungary should tamp down its aggressive response to refugees and deal with the problem in a manner that behoves an European Union state.

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