Hungary's foreign minister has called for the resignation of the UN human rights chief for singling out Prime Minister Viktor Orban as one of the "xenophobes and racists" seeking "ethnic, national or racial purity."
Image: Reuters/D. Balibouse
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Hungary has demanded that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein (photo), step down from his post following a speech on rising xenophobia in Europe in which he singled out Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Hungarian government deemed Zeid's comments about Orban's anti-immigration rhetoric to be "unacceptable" and "inappropriate."
"Xenophobes and racists in Europe are casting off any sense of embarrassment — like Hungary's Viktor Orban who earlier this month said 'we do not want our color ... to be mixed in with others'," the Jordanian UN diplomat said at the opening of the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He was referencing a speech that Orban gave on February 8 when he said Hungary does not "want to be a multicolored country."
"Do they not know what happens to minorities in societies where leaders seek ethnic, national or racial purity?" Zeid asked.
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
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Hungary: 'This is simply unacceptable'
The comments drew the indignation of the Hungarian government. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that it was "obvious that Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein must step down. He is unworthy of his position."
Szijjarto said the UN rights chief had "accused Hungary [of being] comparable to the worst dictatorships of the last century."
"It is very inappropriate that UN officials accuse member states and democratically elected leaders," he said, insisting that "this is simply unacceptable."
Hungary's top diplomat defended his government's position on the issue, saying that migration was a dangerous trend that needed to be stopped because it fostered terrorism and threatened Hungary's cultural identity.
Szijjarto insisted that the UN and other international organizations had no business telling Hungary who it should allow into the country, or that it should not criminalize illegal migration. "Violating borders must be considered as crime and must be sanctioned," he said.
The UN human rights chief's current tenure expires in August, and he has already indicated that he will not be seeking a second term.
Hungary's foreign minister: 'Migration is dangerous'
