Category: News

The Hungarian Government uses its power arbitrarily to discourage people from attending the Pécs Pride in 2025. According to an amendment adopted by the Parliament, attending Pride will be considered a petty offence. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) and the Streetlawyer Association (Utcajogász) teamed up to answer your questions. Most importantly, the more people attend Pride, the less risky it becomes for everyone. Our Q&A will help you prepare for possible outcomes, and if proceedings are initiated against you, you can count on us!

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the non-execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights  in the Magyar Helsinki Bizottság … Read more

Do you want to:
– get to know how democratic power functions at the local level? 
– be a part of a diverse, young team of refugees, migrants and Hungarians? 
– explore human rights issues faced by refugees in Budapest? 
– learn and have fun with interactive educational methods? 

If yes, apply to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s Human Rights Course by 14 September! 

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s annual report on its activities in 2024 is now available in both Hungarian and English. As a human rights NGO, we provided legal assistance to approximately 4,000 clients last year and successfully represented individuals in 15 cases before the European Court of Human Rights.

In a landmark judgment, the European Court of Human Rights has mandated the Hungarian government to pay just satisfaction to three asylum seekers represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee after determining their expulsion from Hungary … Read more

In recent years, detention conditions in Hungary have attracted increasing international attention. This has further intensified following the 2024 extradition of a non-binary German defendant. However, the German Federal Constitutional Court deemed the extradition unlawful due to the risks of inhumane and degrading treatment in Hungarian detention facilities.

Civil society organisations warn that the functioning of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, the country’s national human rights institution, continues to fall short of international standards, failing to protect human rights and vulnerable communities. They remind that the new Commissioner, who will have to be nominated shortly, should be selected in a transparent and merit-based procedure.

We hosted the first toolkit development meeting on the mental well-being of staff and volunteer in Budapest for our partners in the Caring to Include project, coordinated by the Dutch Council for Refugees and funded by Erasmus+.

June 20 is World Refugee Day. Meanwhile, in Hungary, the word “refugee” has become a slur, and xenophobia underpins government policy. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organization devoted to defending persecuted people, firmly rejects this approach. Its refugee clients have just won two more cases at the European Court of Human Rights. In both cases, children – even with serious health conditions – were victims of rights violations by Hungarian authorities.

Despite having a Hungarian wife and daughter and living lawfully in Hungary for 31 years, a Turkish father was expelled from the country. He was not even informed of the reasons why his presence was considered a security risk. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has awarded him just satisfaction amounting to approximately six million forints, ruling that the Hungarian state expelled him without ensuring a fair trial and adequate judicial remedy. Orhan Demirci was represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) contains information on asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention and international protection based on data from 24 countries, including Hungary. The report on Hungary for 2024 issued by the Hungarian Helsinki … Read more

In a stark display of authoritarian overreach and discriminatory intent, the Budapest police have banned this year’s LGBTQI march scheduled for June 1 – marking the first known use of Hungary’s newly expanded “anti-Pride” law to block a peaceful demonstration. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International Hungary, Háttér Society, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Rainbow Mission Foundation, and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, condemn the move as a politically motivated violation of the fundamental right to peaceful assembly, calling out the government’s hollow denials of Pride bans as falsehoods.

A new proposal for a law would allow the Hungarian government to blacklist a broad range of for-profit and non-profit entities, severely limiting their ability to operate. Hungarian civil society organisations explain the details and how the law would silence watchdogs and shield government abuse.

A new legislative proposal marks a dark turn in Hungary’s erosion of democratic norms. Disguised as a transparency measure to prevent sovereignty threats, the Bill on the Transparency of Public Life aims to starve and strangle civil society, independent media and any legal entity that the government decides to target.

The court convicted a man for violence against a member of the community, after he, along with his accomplices attacked antifascist youths, motivated by political hatred. It is notable that the prosecution had previously refused to press charges against the perpetrator, who has now been sentenced to one year suspended prison. The victims could only achieve a conviction through a substitute private prosecution, with the help of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

In March 2025, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) conducted an ad hoc visit to Hungary. To highlight pressing issues regarding conditions in Hungarian prisons, the HHC Justice Programme prepared a submission for the visit.

The Hungarian government is disregarding an interim resolution by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which exhorted the government to align legislation on life sentences with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Strasbourg Court has ruled in favour of a former prisoner in a case against Hungary over its arbitrary refusal to allow him to attend the funerals of his mother and brother. This was despite the fact that he had almost no time left to serve on his sentence and that his behaviour had been exemplary. The applicant was represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

Amendments aimed at “banning” the Budapest Pride event infringe a number of fundamental rights, such as the right to the protection of personal data, the freedom of peaceful assembly and the principle of non-discrimination. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee will provide help to protect your rights.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) carried out a periodic visit to Hungary in May 2023. The recently published report on the visit highlights several issues, also raised by the HHC, which undermine humane detention in Hungary. In particular, the Committee identified ill-treatment by police and prison staff as a critical issue that remains unresolved in the country.