Category: Our reports and analyses

Information update

  The Hungarian Helsinki Committee strongly recommends that everyone who is able to stay home should stay home! This is exactly what we are also doing, because this is how responsible citizens act now. Cooperating … Read more

The Authorization Act allows the Government to introduce significant restrictions, practically without any time limit, without any debate in the Parliament, and without any guarantee for the swift and effective constitutional review.

Assessment of the proposed law to extend the state of emergency and its constitutional preconditions A carte blanche mandate for the Hungarian government with no sunset clause is not the panacea to the emergency caused by … Read more

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee was granted leave to submit a third-party intervention in the case of R.M. and Others v. Poland. The case concerns a Russian family with small children who were detained in Poland … Read more

In January, the Government unexpectedly announced that it intends to amend the system of compensations awarded to inmates for poor detention conditions. This may violate Hungary’s international obligations and points to the inadequacy of domestic policy, while the Government’s hostile rhetoric targeting detainees and their attorneys is unacceptable.

A new law adopted on 17 December 2019 seems to be yet another attempt to make sure that politically sensitive court cases are decided in a way that is favourable for the executive power. It does not only make it possible to channel politically sensitive cases out of the ordinary court system, but also makes it harder in practice for individuals to enforce their rights vis a vis the state.

Judicial independence has been under constant threat and has been systematically undermined by the governing majority in Hungary in the past seven years. How did they do it? A timeline prepared by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International Hungary outlines the major steps.

Judicial independence is being systematically undermined in Hungary. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International Hungary recommend specific steps that would remedy the long-standing systemic deficiencies of the system, thus restoring and safeguarding judicial independence.

The new Bill amending rules on courts, submitted on 12 November to the Hungarian Parliament, should not be adopted in its current form.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (GC) delivered its judgment in the case of Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary on 21 November 2019. In its judgment the GC affirmed the Chamber’s … Read more

On 12 November 2019, the Hungarian Government submitted a Bill to the Parliament which, if adopted, will have a significant negative impact on judicial independence, however, in a much more covert and technical way than the earlier, withdrawn plan to put administrative courts under the Minister of Justice.

Hungarian NGOs rebut the Hungarian Government’s false or misleading statements and point out its lack of adequate reaction to EP concerns in the Article 7 procedure against Hungary

A description of the “starve and strangle” policies used by the Hungarian governing party to shrink space for free civil society in the country, applied behind the smoke screen of hate propaganda

Following a judgment concluding that the removal of the Supreme Court President in 2012 was prompted by the criticism he voiced, the CoE called on Hungary to protect the freedom of expression of judges, but to no avail: today, judges are facing retaliatory measures and media attacks once again for voicing professional criticism.

The HHC assessed the activities and independence of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary with a view to its upcoming re-accreditation as a “national human rights institution”. The analysis shows that even though the Ombudsperson was active in a number of areas, he repeatedly failed to address adequately pressing human rights issues that are politically sensitive and high-profile.

Slowly, Steadily, Stealthily How Rule of Law Is Further Undermined in Hungary January – September 2019 On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament voted to trigger proceedings against Hungary under Article 7 of the Treaty … Read more

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health, and cultural rights of children. The implementation of the CRC  … Read more

In the framework of the Guardianship Advanced Instruments for child protection in Europe (G.A.IN.), funded by the European Commission and in partnership with Save the Children Italy, the HHC produced the Toolkit for child protection experts on … Read more

New briefing paper by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International Hungary on the constitutional crisis in the Hungarian judiciary. The paper outlines key developments since January 2018, both regarding the ordinary court system and … Read more