BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary’s parliament recently enacted a law that criminalizes homelessness. The anti-vagrancy law permits police to impose fines, community service, or jail time on homeless people living in public spaces. The government asserts that the law aims to protect “public order, security, health and cultural value.”
In November 2012, Hungary’s Constitutional Court overturned a similar law criminalizing homelessness, concluding that the law violated human dignity. After the Court’s ruling, a super-majority in Parliament voted to add a provision to the Constitution that permitted the criminalization of homelessness.
Like most nations in Europe, Hungary’s ongoing financial crisis has led to sharp increases in poverty, debt and joblessness. In turn, this has led to a rise in homelessness. There are approximately 30,000 homeless people in Hungary and 10,000 of those are living on the streets or in the shelters in Budapest.
Tessa Udvarhelyi, representative for a poverty-advocacy group known as The City Belongs to Everyone, told the BBC: “Homeless people have always been harassed by the authorities. The difference is that this government is codifying the fact that homeless people are stigmatized, harassed and criminalized.”
Government representatives are saying the new law will help the homeless, as there is plenty of space for them in Hungary’s homeless shelters. But this does not appear to be the case. According to the BBC, there is only room for 6,000 homeless people in Budapest’s shelters, leaving 4,000 people without a place to live in the capital. Udvarhelyi says that these shelters are always crowded and resources are scarce.
Representatives from the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union say they plan to take the government to the European Court of Human Rights, asserting that Hungary is violating international conventions that it has signed. In 2012, United Nations human rights experts denounced Hungary’s criminalization efforts, saying: “Homeless persons should not be deprived of their basic rights to liberty, or to privacy, personal security and protection of the family, only because they are poor and need shelter.”
Many of Budapest’s homeless are protesting the new law, claiming that poverty and homelessness are not crimes. Some—like Betti Fetter—would rather live on the streets than in one of the city’s shelters where she is deprived of familiarity and the support of her network of friends. “I live in a tent in the outskirts,” Betti said. “All I ask from this or any government, is the chance to live decently.”
– Daniel Bonasso
Sources: NPR, BBC, Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch