Renowned professors against Hungary's 'Stop Soros' legislation

77 university professors and academics from 28 countries around the world have stood up against a new Hungarian legislation dubbed “Stop Soros" bill they say poses an “imminent existential threat" to the independent Hungarian civil society.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has won his fourth (and third consecutive) term in power on a heavily anti-migrant agenda that was also targeting Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist George Soros as one of the masterminds aiding illegal immigration to Europe.Passing the so-called "stop Soros" law would be one of the first pieces of legislation to be passed by the new parliament. This law would allow the government to

We, 77 university professors and academics from 28 countries around the world, express our solidarity with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the independent Hungarian civil society, which currently faces an imminent existential threat

allow the government to simply ban the activities of organizations assisting refugees and migrants in a fast and arbitrary process.

render illegal activities such as legal aid to asylum-seekers, reporting to the UN or the EU, holding university lectures about refugee law or recruiting volunteers, if these are performed by civil society actors who dare to criticise government practices.

, showed a solidarity declaration published on Wednesday in English, Spanish and Hungarian.The signatories said the so-called “Stop Soros" bill “will have a devastating impact on both Hungarian civil society and those vulnerable human beings that cannot count on anyone else’s support."They said the new legislation willThey noted that such practices are equally condemned by the EU and the international community.The professors added that the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) is an outstanding human rights organization, well-known and respected for its professionalism around the world, not only by civil society, but by academia, state authorities and the judiciary as well.

“The HHC has massively contributed to the promotion of refugee law education and legal clinics on various continents. We all personally know and highly respect their work. States should be proud of such NGOs, instead of aiming to silence them."

The signatories stressed that strong and independent civil society organisations are as

If NGOs such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee are threatened, democracy is threatened.

“We call on our governments to express, without delay, their vivid discontent with Hungary’s legislation aiming at annihilating independent civil society. We call on universities around the world to do the same and actively demonstrate their solidarity with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the entire threatened Hungarian civil sector. We call on the European Union to prove to the world its credibility as a guardian and global promoter of fundamental rights, and immediately take action to prevent this flagrant human rights violation from happening on its own territory."

“If a prestigious organization, winner of various international human rights awards, can simply be banned from providing legal aid to refugees, if a globally reputed voice of human rights can be silenced with an administrative measure in an EU member state, then further dramatic anti-democracy measures are likely to follow.“There is a real risk that the Hungarian example will be increasingly copied elsewhere, and soon it may be too late to stop the domino effect."The signatories include François Crépeau, who has been until recently United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, James Hathaway and Guy Goodwin-Gill, who are considered as the world’s top experts on refugee law, the Director of Sweden’s Wallenberg Institute, or the Dean of Ecuador’s most prestigious university.