Recent Changes in Hungarian Criminal Legislation to Address Irregular Migration

Abstract

The last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in international migration, with Europe experiencing a significant influx of individuals from developing countries, especially the Near-East. This phenomenon has led to a spike in irregular migration into the European Union, reaching peak levels in the past four years, profoundly affecting both the EU and its individual member states. Hungary, facing a considerable influx of migrants in 2015, took a decisive political step by adopting specific criminal measures aimed at mitigating this irregular migration. This move resulted in notable modifications to the Hungarian legal framework, especially concerning criminal law and procedures. The Hungarian Criminal Code was expanded to include three novel offenses: the destruction of the border fence, illegal crossing of the border fence, and interference with the construction of the border fence. Furthermore, the general part of the Criminal Code underwent revisions to thoroughly address the issue of irregular migration. This study seeks to explore the adjustments made to Hungarian criminal law in response to irregular migration, focusing on the introduction of new legal definitions and examining criminal statistics from 2015 to 2017. It is important to note that the analysis is based solely on official criminal data from 2015 to 2017, as figures for 2018 were not available at the time due to ongoing consolidation by the Unified Hungarian Criminal Statistics of Investigation Authorities and Prosecution.