Is this the sort of world we want to live in?

We all know that the plight of refugees is a worldwide problem. Forget about anyone pausing for a moment to reflect on what precipitated the problem in the first place - looking at you the USA, the UK and Australia, amongst others, for in effect, bringing about, if not actually causing, the wars in Syria, Iraq and Libya - but the fact is that these millions of refugees must be treated decently and humanely. In many instances they are not. Just look at what Hungary has just done. Is this the sort of world we want to live in where people are treated disgracefully? - and often in breach of international law.

"Human rights groups have heavily criticised a vote by the Hungarian parliament to force all asylum seekers into detention camps as the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, called migration “a Trojan horse for terrorism”.

The asylum seekers will be kept in converted shipping containers while they wait for their cases to be heard via video-link as part of measures Orbán said were designed to save Europe. He considers the migrants, many of whom are Muslims, as a threat to European Christian identity and culture.

The measure was fiercely opposed by civil liberties groups in the country and some socialist MPs but was nevertheless passed overwhelmingly by 138 votes to six with 22 abstentions. Support came from Orbán’s Fidesz party and the far-right Jobbik.

Amnesty International, one of a consortium of seven civil rights groups to protest against the new regulations, said the proposals would breach EU law and the refugee convention. “Dumping all refugees and migrants into containers isn’t a refugee policy it’s avoiding one,” the group said in a statement, denouncing the Hungarian moves as a “flagrant violation of international law.”

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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