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| Crowds of people at Roeszke border crossing Photograph: DigitalGlobe for Amnesty International |
Day 254
The following is from a friend of ours who has lived almost thirty years in Hungary. I know many of you are following the refugee plight and this will help direct you in your prayers. I know that all of us are asking the Lord to show us how He wants us to pray. Much has happened since he wrote this on Monday, but you will find it helpful in processing this situation. He writes the following on Monday.
Encouraged by news of Germany’s announcement that it plans to accept 800,000 refugees, as well as reports of the thousands who were given passage to Germany last week, a new “wave” of refugees will arrive at Hungary’s border with Serbia in the next few days....with plans of passing through Hungary and moving on to Germany. The problem?
• As reported by the associated press, this agreement by Austria and Germany last week to forego the necessary paper work and allow passage of the refugees to their countries “was a one-time measure to ease an emergency.”
• Although contrary to EU Schengen rules, both Austria and Germany today began border checks and border control at their border crossings.
• Hungary, in turn, has announced a “State of Emergency”, and is sending troops to the Hungarian-Serbian border with orders NOT to let any refugees cross without being documented.
RECIPE FOR DISASTER
After months of travel through extreme circumstances, this “wave” of tired and poor refugees will finally get to the border of the “promised land” only to be greeted by a 12 foot fence and an equally tired collection of police and soldiers who have been given orders to keep them from entering. This is a recipe for disaster! In an article in the Daily News/Hungary entitled “Hungary will stop immigrants with brutal laws in a few-days”, one cabinet member honestly predicted: “You have to prepare for ‘hard scenes’
at the Serbian border from next Tuesday.”
As I am sure you have heard, Hungary has not responded well to the refugee crisis...and that just might be the understatement of the year! Hungary’s government has openly espoused a strategy to discourage refugees from taking this route through Hungary to the EU by making their time here as hard as possible. The goal: don’t let them be comfortable, don’t make it easy—intentionally make it hard for them—in the hope that word will spread down through the grapevine that Hungary is NOT a preferred way to get into
the EU.
Hungarians themselves are divided! Some are so fearful of the long term effects of refugees settling here that they cheer the government, while others are ashamed of their government’s treatment of the refugees and have joined forces with civil groups to serve and help in a variety of creative ways....including organizing “baby baths” (I’ll explain the former, and detail the latter, in another letter in 2-3 days).
(Hungary is) speaking out of both sides of their mouths.
While Hungary has done quite a lot to deserve the bad press it is getting, what is not being reported is that Hungary was instructed by the EU to stop the “wave” of refugees, and to let no one through without documentation.
While some EU representatives are publicly lambasting Hungary for building a fence on the border, and not sending asylum seekers on to Germany, other EU leaders are demanding that Hungary protect the EU’s borders and only let documented refugees pass through. Some have gone so far as to say “if our
Eastern European partners cannot protect their borders, maybe we need to re-draw the borders of the EU”. Hungary took this as a not-so-veiled threat of ex-communication from the EU if it did not step up.
Hindering this documentation process are two “truths” which are at odds
with each other.
1) The EU’s Dublin Agreement states that refugees are wards of that State through which they enter the European Union. In this case, Hungary would be responsible for everyone it documents/registers. If these refugees are later found to be in other countries, they will be sent back to the original EU country (Hungary). Germany said last week that it will set aside this Dublin Agreement, but was subsequently rebuked by the rest of the EU, as this is the law of the land.
2) Those refugees arriving into Hungary make no secret of the fact that they DO NOT want to stay in Hungary. FYI: our standard of living here in Hungary, our socialized medicine, our wages, etc. are not anything close to that which citizens in our neighboring, Western European countries receive, and these refugees simply DO NOT WANT TO STAY IN HUNGARY (neither do most Hungarians, for that matter!). They wish to move on to wealthier locations - the very same locations instructing Hungary not to let them
through. Most arrive without identification of any kind, and refuse the registration/documentation process because that would doom them to remain in Hungary, as per the Dublin Agreement mentioned above.
The result: most refugees are intentionally avoiding that very thing which the EU is demanding before Hungary allows them into the EU —get documented!
This is why soldiers are being sent to the border: no undocumented refugees are to be allowed into the country. While these soldiers have not been granted authority to use weapons, tear gas has already been used a few times when large groups decided to simply go-for-it and rush the border guards. Batons are also a threat.
• Honestly, I am afraid for the refugees. They will be arriving with high expectations, and will not give up....not after everything they have already gone through!
• I am afraid for the tired policemen and border guards....I am afraid they are not prepared to handle this type of predicament.
Again...this is a recipe for disaster!
As I said, I will be sending more within 2-3 days. I started writing about this situation and wrote 4-5 pages...too much to send in a letter. There is just so much to say: Why is Hungary reacting this way? How are Christians and the church reacting? What are we in Barnabas Group/CRM-Hungary about
this? What can you be praying for? All that is coming....soon!
But today, tonight, please pray...
-for cooler heads to prevail on the border the next few days.
-that God would miraculously calm both the refugees, and the
soldiers/police.
-that the refugees would NOT simply “rush” the border guards en-mass.
-that God would grace the border guards with compassion (there are
actually some encouraging stories of compassion, but only the bad stories are getting
aired).
-for there to be no violence, no bloodshed, and no injury (sometimes the
en-mass rush results in people being crushed).
Thank You for Praying!
*Our friend wrote this update yesterday, Thursday. Again, he needs our prayers and this helps also helps us to pray with intelligence.
Please pray*! Monday Tamas Heizer (my Hungarian director) and I shared with the General Secretary of the Hungarian Evangelical Alliance some thoughts we have concerning the need for a* Europe-wide strategy* to coordinate care for the refugees at all points along their journey. He, in turn, asked us to take part in a conference call yesterday with *Evangelical Alliance representatives from all European countries*, as well as Refugee aid groups working in all of Europe. Tamas does not speak English, and
asked me to take part in this call. Mid-way through the call I was asked to share our thoughts. Honestly, what I shared seemed out of place/out of context....they were mainly giving reports on all that is happening in each country, as well as discussing advocacy concerns. I actually began to feel bad about what I had shared, as it didn't fit the purpose of the conference call.
At the end of the call, however, the moderator/facilitator announced that they were *inviting a few people to take part in two "Steering Group"*conference calls this Friday and next Friday to discuss "the next steps" (stated goal of call: *“…scope out the role and possibilities for a Christian response to the situation of refugees in Europe.”)*, and *they invited me to take part in this discussion! * Upon returning home, I checked email, and there were other email invitations to other strategic discussions, too.
*I feel overwhelmed: I know very little about ministering to refugees.* By God's grace I do know a little bit about strategy, but Tamas is the real strategic genius here, and I feel like half a man without him. Honestly, *I feel I am in over my head*! But, I do believe in God’s ability to help, so *please,
please pray* that God would fill me with His Spirit and enable me to make a contribution to this European strategy! And pray that we do, in fact, come up with *"a Christian response to the situation of refugees in Europe." *
Thanks
for Praying!!
ps: Prepping for this Steering Group conference call will set back the
promised follow-up to Monday’s prayer letter by 2 days!
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