On the Website of the Hungarian Interior Ministry, the Office of Immigration and Nationality offers statistics on refugee claims by nationality (Hungary 2002). This site identifies all refugee claimants by country of origin, but only in a few cases does it categorize claimants by ethnicity (ibid.). Claimants from Romania are not identified by their ethnicity (ibid.). According to these data, 18 Romanians applied for refugee protection in Hungary in 2002; 11 were rejected (ibid.). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offers statistics that identify refugees by country of origin and ethnicity but the data do not identify how many ethnic Hungarians or Roma have applied for asylum in Hungary (UNHCR 2002).

In 2001, the Institute of Race Relations reported that "[O]nly 2.6 per cent of the 22,000 people who applied for asylum in the [previous] three years [were] successful." (IRR 1 Oct. 2001).

A representative from the International Organisation for Migration reported that information about the reasons for an applicant's claim is not available to the public (IOM 27 Apr. 2004).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Hungary. 2002. Ministry of the Interior. Office of Immigration and Nationality of the Ministry of the Interior. "Asylum Statistics 2002 January-December." http://www.bmbah.hu/statisztikak.php?id=6 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2004]

Institute of Race Relations (IRR). 1 October 2001. Fekete, Liz. "Only Tiny Percentage of Asylum Seekers Accepted." http://www.irr.org.uk/europebulletin/hungary/asylum_seekers_refugees/2001/ak000002.html [Accessed 4 May 2004]

International Organisation for Migration. 27 April 2004. Correspondance from head of Policy, Liaison & Development

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 2002. Statistics on Asylum-Seekers, Refugees and Others of Concern to UNHCR. "Table 7: Asylum Applications and Refugee Status Determination by Country of Asylum and Origin, 2002." http://www.unhcr.ch/static/statistics_2002/asr02-dr2-Table7.pdf [Accessed 26 Apr. 2004]

Internet sites: Business Hungary, Central Europe Review, Council of Europe, European Roma Rights Center, Genocide in Transylvania, Human Rights Watch, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, Hungarian Minorities Monitor, Independent Race and Refugee News Network, INTERIGHTS: The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, Migration Policy Group, Office of Immigration and Nationality of the Ministry of Interior (Hungary), Open Society Institute, Radio Free Europe, Transitions, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Statistics Division, US Committee for Refugees.