A new law has come into effect in Hungary that could leave thousands of Ukrainian refugees homeless or force them to return to Ukraine, reports the BBC. The Hungarian government has decided to regulate the rules under which Ukrainians receive aid.
According to the new regulations, only Ukrainians from oblasts directly affected by fighting can count on support. The UN refugee agency estimates that “approximately 2,000 – 3,000 refugees will lose access to subsidized housing” due to this change in law.
The list of eligible regions currently includes 13 oblasts of Ukraine where fighting is ongoing or has taken place, including Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv oblasts, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with Sevastopol and Kyiv oblast with Kyiv. This list will be updated monthly.
Human rights activists believe this new regulation will most severely impact Roma people from the Transcarpathian region. The UN agency notes that “for many, this will lead to job losses and affect children’s enrollment in schools.”
The situation is complicated as many refugees have dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizenship, which has led to denial of assistance in other EU countries because they are Hungarian citizens.
The new rules replace the system that has been in place since 2022, when Hungary, despite not being the largest European country, accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine. Currently, an estimated 31,000 refugees from Ukraine reside in the country.
While the new law doesn’t mean automatic evictions, as of 21 August, property owners will no longer receive state subsidies for housing Ukrainians.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban remains the only European leader maintaining relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Hungarian government also refuses to provide military assistance to Ukraine and has repeatedly opposed such support from the European Union and NATO.
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