The European Court of Justice has ruled that sexual orientation tests can't be used to rule on asylum applications. Hungarian officials sought to examine a Nigerian man's application on the grounds that he is gay.
Image: DW/C. Chebbi
Advertisement
Hungarian immigration officials were wrong to make a Nigerian asylum applicant undergo psychological tests to determine whether or not he was gay, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday.
The ruling effectively bans the testing of sexual orientation to determine the right to asylum, declaring it to be "disproportionate" and an invasion of "the most intimate aspects" of life.
The man, who was not named in the ruling, had made his application at a time of high immigration to Hungary from the Middle East and Africa. The right-wing government has been at the forefront of attempts, especially among former communist states in the east, to harden the European Union's frontiers against asylum seekers.
- The man made his claim for asylum in the southern city of Szeged in April 2015.
- His claim was that, as a homosexual man, he faced prosecution back home in Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal and where the maximum penalty in some northern states is death by stoning.
- Hungarian authorities rejected the application based on psychological tests that required the man to draw a picture of a person in the rain and describe his perceptions of inkblots.
- The ECJ ruled that, though it is acceptable for authorities to seek expert opinions, these should be obtained in a way that is consistent with human rights standards.
Viktor Orban's most controversial migration comments
Hungary's right-wing prime minister has been one of Europe's leading voices against migration into the EU. Unafraid of controversy, he has described migration as an "invasion" and migrants as a "poison."
Image: Reuters/B. Szabo
'Muslim invaders'
"We don't see these people as Muslim refugees. We see them as Muslim invaders," Orban said in a recent interview with German daily Bild newspaper. The 54-year-old prime minister of Hungary added: "We believe that a large number of Muslims inevitably leads to parallel societies, because Christian and Muslim society will never unite." Multiculturalism, he said, "is only an illusion."
Image: Reuters/F. Lenoir
'You wanted the migrants, we didn't'
When asked by Bild whether it was fair for Germany to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants while Hungary accepted none, Orban responded: "The difference is, you wanted the migrants, and we didn't." Migration, he said, threatens the "sovereignty and cultural identity" of Hungary.
Image: Reuters/L. Balogh
'Migration is poison'
It was not the first time the Hungarian leader has framed migration as a problem for his country. In 2016, he said that Hungary "does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future." He added: "for us migration is not a solution but a problem ... not medicine but a poison, we don’t need it and won’t swallow it.”
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/P. Gorondi
'Importing homophobia'
Orban has repeatedly criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her decision to allow over a million migrants into Germany in the summer of 2015. Orban told Bild in early 2016: "If you take masses of non-registered immigrants from the Middle East into your country, you are importing terrorism, crime, anti-Semitism, and homophobia."
Image: Reuters/L. Balogh
'All terrorists are basically migrants'
Orban has also repeatedly criticized the EU for trying to get member states to share refugees based on national quotas. In a 2015 interview with POLITICO, he suggested the bloc's leaders instead focus more on strengthening the EU's external border. In the same interview, he said: "Of course it’s not accepted, but the factual point is that all the terrorists are basically migrants."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Bozon
'Parallel societies'
Orban has found allies in other right-wing governments in eastern Europe such as Poland that also oppose the EU's refugee policies. In an interview with Spanish TV channel Intereconomia in 2015, Orban raised fears about integrating Muslim migrants in the EU when he said: "What sort of Europe do we want to have? Parallel societies? Muslim communities living together with the Christian community?"
Image: Reuters/K. Pempel
6 images1 | 6
'Disproportionate interference'
The ECJ ruled that "the performance of such a test amounts to a disproportionate interference in the private life of the asylum-seeker."
Judges at the Luxembourg court ruled that such interference is "particularly serious because it is intended to give an insight into the most intimate aspects of the asylum-seeker's life."
They also said the reliability of such assessments was, in any case, disputed. The court said authorities and courts could not "base their decision solely on the conclusions of an expert’s report and must not be bound by them."
What is the situation in Nigeria? Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, some 97 percent of Nigerians believe homosexuality is an unacceptable way of life.
What status do homosexual people have in Hungary? Hungary has allowed same-sex sexual activity since 1962, relatively early compared with many countries that are now EU members. However, though Hungary allows same-sex unions, it does not recognize same-sex marriages or adoption by same-sex couples.
