The Hungarian government will most likely - and hopefully - fail in its efforts to prevent the EU from accepting a quota for distributing refugees across EU member countries. The government's systematic hate campaign hasn't achieved anything else so far than raised their popularity amongst uninformed, frightened, or xenophobic people. But it hasn't managed to stop people from entering the EU, it hasn't improved the security of the EU, and it won't help in alleviating the problems of the refugees who need help. Since this is so, it is high time to put down on the table a few practical ideas on how to relate to the refugees once they will be with us in Hungary and what policies to work on.
1. Communication and the Education of the Public
First of all the government has to communicate clearly that the people who will be sent here are people whose cases have been assessed and they are eligible for refugee status.
Another issue connected to communication is that the government will have to be prepared to support local authorities and the refugees in the first years by providing translators and interpreters, as well as computers and other devices which can be used to make official procedures faster and easier for all parties involved.
2. Pedagogy and Schools
Second, the government needs a teaching strategy. Refugees just like anyone else are people who are happy when they have a secure, normal life, when they have a job, when their kids get a normal education and have a chance in life. The event of foreigners coming to Hungary in larger numbers will be a welcome chance for a generation of Hungarians to get normal experiences about people stemming from other places. This is a fundamental experience in a world of almost 8 billion people, and an experience which most Hungarians still lack. A teaching and pedagogical strategy will hence be vital. The goal is of course to help the children in the refugee families to i) learn Hungarian, ii) improve their English, iii) learn the skills needed to work in Hungary in the future successfully, contributing to the populations well-being. To achieve these ends the authorities responsible for education would have to train teachers who can speak fluent English to be prepared on how to address the children arriving in their schools and how to negotiate with their parents, how to cooperate them to achieve optimal teaching outcomes. These teachers should also be given some minimal understanding of the cultures and environments from where the kids coming here are arriving from. The government should also prepare psychologists so that the traumatized children and students can have access to therapeutic exercises, and can have a chance to learn how to handle their experiences.
3. Preparing and Supporting Local Communities
Third, the government should prepare those communities where the refugees will be settled. The communities should be able to ask questions from experts on the countries and cultures where the refugees are coming from, they should have access to counselors who will stay in these places and they can have a close, personal relationship with, and they can turn to when they have problems with the newcomers. Local help and assistance in the form of extra workforce for the social services, police, and educational services will be needed. The sooner these people are recruited the better: they can get to know the local circumstances before the refugees arrive. They'll have their hands full in the first months after that anyway. The local communities could furthermore be made to think more explicitly about how they function. What is important for them? What norms or habits might refugees find hard to adapt to, or might not even know about? How could they be helped in adjusting and what activities could they take part in?
4. Employment
Fourth, and most crucially, the government will have to come up with ways in which it can harvest the workforce that refugees provide. People who arrive are mostly young - naturally, not the oldest, frailest people make such a journey, and families send their youngest to safety first. How could these people be best allocated? The government will have to prepare the local authorities to measure their skills and map their capacities well. People could be straightaway offered positions that match their previous training if they are professionals.
5. Healthcare
Fifth: workers and capacities in the healthcare services will have to be prepared and supported too. They will have to look after more people, and might encounter problems which are not typical in northern, milder regions and climates.
Healthcare workers will also have to be informed about some do-s and don't-s.
6. Personalized Support
Local services, like the social workers' network, will have to play a large part in integration. They will need to visit families and communities regularly, help in settling disputes, help in educating people. They also have to be prepared to assist refugees in the first period by explaining basics laws, rights, community norms, and helping them get involved in local activities and ways of life.
And that's just a part of all the foresight, planning, and preparations that is needed. Do we see any of the East European governments engaging in it? Nah.
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