Stuck in Jail – Immigration detention in Hungary in 2010
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee visited 9 new, temporary immigration jails in August 2010. The findings of these missions are summarized in a report.
Category: Our reports and analyses
The Third Wave – The New Constitution
The Eötvös Károly Policy Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee have examined the draft Constitution of Hungary submitted to the Parliament on 14 March 2011. According to the NGOs the draft Constitution undermines democratic political competition and makes political change more difficult by transforming institutional structures, weakens the system of checks and balances and alters the framework of the political community by extending the right to vote. The draft Constitution decreases the level of protection of fundamental rights and significantly limits the enforceability of these rights through curbing the Constitutional Court’s powers. Since there is no information available on the planned content of the acts of Parliament requiring a two-third majority to be adopted, it may be stated that the adoption of the new Constitution will be only the beginning of the constitution-making process, not the end of it.
Documents related to the constitution-making process in Hungary – Spring 2011
16 March 2011 – The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee compiled a joint analysis on the process of framing the new Constitution of Hungary. The three NGOs … Read more
Report on the Border Monitoring in 2008-2009 (2010)
The second tripartite report on the border monitoring project that is internationally considered as a best example for the cooperation between state authorities and non-state actors.
Expulsion and Human Rights (2010)
“Expulsion and Human Rights” is a short guidance document primarily for judges on how to apply the prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in expulsion and extradition cases (by Gábor Gyulai).
Statelessness in Hungary
Having a nationality is like the air to breathe. One takes it for granted and only realises its importance when it is missing. Currently, there are at least 12 million stateless persons in the world.
Best practices of voluntary return – Guidelines
In the framework of its 2010 project entitled “Return in a lawful and humane manner” the Hungarian Helsinki Committee conducted a research on best practices of voluntary return and reintegration of failed asylum seekers or other groups of migrants.
General climate of intolerance in Hungary
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has prepared a document on the signs of intolerance of the Hungarian society and the authorities against the Roma minority, the LGBT community and Jewish people. The English version … Read more
The second wave of legislation – Violating the rule of law
The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee assessed the second wave of legislation by Hungary’s new Parliament
The second wave of legislation – Violating the rule of law
The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee assessed the second wave of legislation by Hungary’s new Parliament
Shadow reports on Hungary’s human rights performance
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves the review of the human rights record of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. It was created through the UN General Assembly in 2006. In this review process the UN pays special attention to the information submitted by non-governmental organizations.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee aims to assist the UN to better assess Hungary’s human rights performance by contributing to three alternative reports within the framework of the upcoming periodic review.
NGOs oppose the immigration detention of children
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Red Cross and Menedék – the Hungarian Association for Migrants epxress their deepest concerns regarding the immigration detention of children.
NGO Shadow Report for the UN Human Rights Committee
The HHC has prepared a shadow report for the 100th session of the UN Human Rights Committee on the human rights situation in Hungary.
HHC opinion on draft bill to amend migration laws
NGO assessment of the first wave of legislation by Hungary’s new Parliament
The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Transparency International Hungary jointly evaluated the first three months of the newly formed Parliament.
CPT report on Hungary
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its fourth periodic visit to Hungary in March/April 2009, together with … Read more
End of the Dubliners project – final conference in Rome
The results of the Dubliners project (link to the project) were presented at the final conference in Rome. Officials from Sweden, Hungary and Italy, and representatives of partner NGOs highlighted the difficulties in the application of the Dublin regulation.
Series of articles on statelessness
A series of articles on the phenomenon of statelessness (written by Noémi Ivicsics, intern at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee) has been published on the Hungarian world news and foreign policy website, Kitekintő.
University course textbook on anti-discrimination law
In December 2008, the HHC set up anti-discrimination law clinics at two Hungarian law schools (ELTE University of Budapest and the University of Miskolc) to sensitize law students to this special legal field and provide them with … Read more
HHC position on wearing the uniform of the dissolved Hungarian Guard
The HHC and the Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities issued a statement and a detailed legal analysis as to what kind of consequences it has according to the current legal provisions if … Read more