Control over all: how the government is undermining your liberties

The Hungarian Parliament adopted the arbitrary amendments permitting the ban of Budapest Pride and other similar demonstrations on March 18. 136 Members of Parliament voted in favor of the amendments, and 27 against. In our article, we take a look at which fundamental rights are being impaired by the new provisions, and you can also read about how the Hungarian Helsinki Committee can support individuals whose rights are violated by the new rules.

Right to the protection of personal data

The new rules on the use of facial recognition and facial image registration will not only infringe the fundamental rights of those who want to attend Pride, but also of anyone whose facial image is recorded by the police during any police measure (e.g. in relation to the participation in a demonstration, public event, or attendance at a football match) and are then identified based on it.

Until now, this was only possible for the most serious petty offences (misdemeanors), which are punishable by confinement. This reasonable restriction has been overturned by the amendment since it allows the use of facial recognition and facial image registration for any minor infraction. From now on, if someone drops a tissue during a public event  and is recorded by a police camera, it will be possible to identify this person through facial recognition and to initiate proceedings against them for breaching public sanitation rules based on that.

This is clearly a disproportionate restriction of the right to the protection of personal data and is not in line neither with the Hungarian constitution (the Fundamental Law), nor with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

The legislative amendments prohibit assemblies that might expose minors to content about LGBTQI identities.  This violates the freedom of assembly, which is of paramount importance in democratic societies and can only be restricted for a legitimate aim and in proportion to achieving that. 

The European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee have already stated unequivocally in numerous cases that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that mentioning homosexuality or engaging in public dialogue about the social status of sexual minorities has any adverse effects on children. On the contrary, it is actually harmful to children if they are denied access to basic information about sexuality, including sexual orientations that differ from heterosexuality. Therefore, denying children access to such information cannot serve as a legitimate basis for restricting the right to assembly or freedom of expression.

Principle of non-discrimination

Furthermore, the new regulation is clearly discriminatory. Therefore, another condemnation by the European Court of Human Rights and the waste of taxpayers’ money is guaranteed if the police ban Pride on the basis of the amendments. Since anyone who wishes to participate in the Pride has the right to file an application at the European Court of Human Rights, the financial implications could amount to hundreds of thousands of euros.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that the Hungarian state is facing an EU infringement procedure due to the provision of the homophobic “propaganda law” that prohibits any portrayal of homosexuality, gender identities that do not correspond to the sex assigned at birth, and sex reassignment for minors under the age of 18. This highly controversial rule is now cited as the basis for banning demonstrations in the amendment of the law on the right to assembly. 

What is the role of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee?

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has supported the Budapest Pride event series from the beginning as the movement for the emancipation of sexual minorities. We regularly attend  this LGBTQ+ community festival and organise programs in the framework of it. We provide legal assistance and representation regarding the announcement of the event to the police and conducting the parade. On numerous occasions, we represented Pride in court cases, and in 2014, we successfully achieved a ruling stating that the ban on Pride was unlawful and constituted harassment.  An application made by Budapest Pride with our help is currently before the European Court of Human Rights. We submitted this complaint because during COVID, the police did not allow a car rally to be held to demonstrate against a homophobic and transphobic constitutional amendment.

Sexual minorities and their event are now under a more dangerous attack than ever before, and the state itself is the aggressor here. Therefore, the work of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and other human rights defenders is even more necessary than before. We stand by the Budapest Pride community movement and the right to assembly. Human diversity cannot be banned.

For this reason, we will prepare informational materials, submission templates, and provide legal advice to those who contact us. Although the legal situation is still fluid, we are monitoring the changes and will continuously bring them to your attention. We have many decades of experience when it comes to the right to assembly, freedom of speech, petty offence procedures and criminal cases. This knowledge will be of use to all of you whose fundamental rights are infringed by the government.

Do not believe that freedom threatens security, the affairs of the nation, or the future of our children. If you want to live in a country where you don’t have to fear of those with different opinions, different languages, different attractions, different ways of love, alleged conspiracies and other threats, where we can live together in freedom and safety, support the Hungarian Helsinki Committee with 1% of your income tax! Thank you.

For more information on the legislative amendments in English, see our related briefs here.