Category: News

This leaflet has useful information for you if you legally arrived in Hungary before 24 February 2022 and now you cannot return to Ukraine for the war AND you are a Ukrainian citizen or a family member (wife or husband, partner, children under 18, parents of a Ukrainian children and other relatives, who lived in the same household, even if not Ukrainian citizens) of a Ukrainian citizen, or if you have been recognized as a refugee or stateless person in Ukraine or are a family member of such person.

Another judgment has been delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against Hungary due to unlawful detention of an asylum seeking family in the transit zone. Four Iraqi children and their parents were held by the Hungarian authorities for nearly five months. What is more, the mother was pregnant with their fifth child during their detention in the container camp at Tompa, Hungary. And yet, Hungarian authorities couldn’t care less. The family has been represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

On 23 May 2022, the Council will hold its fourth hearing in the procedure initiated under Article 7(1) TEU in relation to Hungary in 2018, with the aim to determine whether there is a clear … Read more

On 18 June 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared that Act LXXVI of 2017 on the Transparency of Organisations Supported from Abroad (“LexNGO 2017”), which stigmatised certain civil society organisations (CSOs) … Read more

As part of the Protecting Rights at Borders initiative funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM), the third quarterly report on unlawful push-backs was published. Since our previous report the world has changed, … Read more

Two new Bills proposed by the Minister of Justice this week show that the Hungarian Government would use the war in Ukraine as a pretext to keep its excessive regulatory powers, while amending the constitution the 10th time.

On the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary

It is without precedent in Hungary’s penitentiary system that convicts were only allowed to have visitors in merely four months in the past two years. In the rest twenty months, no one was permitted to have any kind of visitor under any condition. Even if this unjustifiable restriction ends in May 2022, the accumulated problems of the past years caused by the unnecessarily strict criminal policy will not be solved. Today, forty thousand children are being deprived of their right to family life.

Out of 275 applicants, the Support Network for Detainees and their Families was selected as the one of the 15 best and most innovative nominees and have won a jury prize of €2,000 at SozialMarie – Prize for Social Innovation yesterday.

The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) contains information on asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention and international protection based on data from 23 countries, including Hungary. The report on Hungary for 2021 issued by the Hungarian Helsinki … Read more

Civil society organisations who challenged the National Election Committee’s decision in the Curia (Supreme Court) have achieved an important victory, not only for themselves but also for the 1.7 million people who decided to cast an invalid vote in the referendum.

The HHC has long been reporting on issues related to unnecessary restrictions of detainees’ contact with the outside world to the CPT. For the past years, there has been a systemic overuse of COVID-lockdown measures … Read more

On Sunday, more than 1.6 million Hungarians cast invalid votes to reject the government’s manipulative and fear-mongering referendum. The invalidity of the referendum shows that the majority of Hungarians do not support the government’s exclusionary policies. Five days after the miserable failure of the government’s anti-LGBTQI referendum, the National Election Committee (NEC) suddenly realized that the months-long campaign “defeats the constitutional purpose of the exercise of power.”

Millions of children have been forced to leave Ukraine since the beginning of the war. They are in a particularly vulnerable situation, which is why they require an additional measure of legal and social support.

This document contains useful information if you are a Ukrainian citizen, a family member of a Ukrainian citizen or if you lived in Ukraine prior to 24 February.

We compiled a factsheet on issues hindering good family contact of detainees in Hungary. Why is detainees’ contact with the outside world important? Contact with family members promotes the reintegration of prisoners and the prevention … Read more

Interview with András Léderer, senior advocacy officer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s refugee programme.

The Hungarian Government requested additional funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility from the European Commission in the Prime Minister’s letter of 18 March 2022. Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan is yet to be approved … Read more

Our new information note provides on overview on recent key developments following the baseline information note published on 21 February 2022. These series of notes are aimed at those who would like to have up-to-date … Read more

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee provides regular, reliable information on the situation at the Ukrainian-Hungarian border and of refugees fleeing Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. Our updates on the protection situation in Hungary: 2 March … Read more