Judgment CJEU: Hungarian asylum policy violates EU law
The “embassy procedure” must be abolished, and fair treatment must be ensured for asylum seekers.
How to gamble with criminal law: the Hungarian government lets foreign smugglers loose
The Hungarian government’s current attempt to reduce prison overcrowding is absurd. After boasting about its increasingly strict penal policy and communicating about the fight against migration, it has released hundreds of foreign human smugglers from prison, which is damaging and dangerous. We point out the main issues.
Relevant Helsinki Files
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Join the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s Social Participation Course
We invite you to join our Social Participation Course! We are looking for young people between the ages of 16-25 who live in Hungary as foreigners. Apply to the course, if: you want to feel … Read more
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Detained asylum seekers v. Hungary: 2:0 again at the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the detention of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s two asylum seeker clients unlawful in today’s judgement against Hungary. The young men, from Afghanistan and Algeria, were in asylum detention for five and two months, which was not justified for even a single day.
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RED-SPINEL: Responding to Emerging Dissensus. SuPranational Instruments and Norms of European Democracy
Since September 2022, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has been actively involved in the RED-SPINEL research project, funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Commission, and coordinated by IEE-ULB. Over a period of 36 months, … Read more
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Analysis: The implementation of the ECtHR judgment in Gazsó v Hungary on protracted court proceedings
In 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concluded in its pilot judgment delivered in the case of Gazsó v. Hungary that violations of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time in … Read more
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Hungary fails to comply with ECtHR judgments on life sentence
Hungary has been failing to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that established rights violations with regard to applicants sentenced to whole life imprisonment and life imprisonment with the possibility of a parole. In its recent submission, the HHC demonstrates how the Hungarian authorities had not only failed to carry out the necessary legal changes, but that individual measures that would be required to bring the violations to an end with regard to the applicants are prevented as well.
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Brief assessment of the Kúria’s case allocation scheme and system after the judicial reform
On 1 June 2023, the judicial reform package adopted by the Parliament to comply with the super milestones set out in Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan with a view to enhancing the independence of the … Read more
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Hungarian asylum policy violates EU law, finds CJEU
On 22 June, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that not allowing people to seek asylum on the territory of Hungary violates EU law. Currently it is
practically impossible to apply for international protection, as an asylum procedure may only be launched at the Hungarian embassy in Belgrade or Kyiv (!). Under the judgment made in Luxembourg, the “embassy procedure” must be abolished, and fair treatment must be ensured for asylum seekers. -
Five Years and Counting: Government Attacks against Civil Society 2018-2023
Five years ago, on World Refugee Day, the Hungarian Parliament passed the infamous “Stop Soros” law, criminalizing assistance provided for asylum seekers and stigmatizing independent NGOs. Taking stock of the past five years, our new paper puts the attacks faced by Hungarian NGOs in the context of an illiberal transition.
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The Hungarian government should implement court judgments that protect civil society
Budapest, 20 June 2023 – On the fifth anniversary of Hungary’s anti-NGO laws, Hungarian civil society organisations call on the government to fully implement court judgments that uphold their rights.
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Info Note: No Access to Asylum for 3 Years
The asylum system in Hungary has practically been suspended since May 2020. Neither the legal framework nor its practical implementation offers effective access to the asylum system, thereby emptying out the right to seek asylum.
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How to gamble with criminal law: the Hungarian government lets foreign smugglers loose
The Hungarian government’s current attempt to reduce prison overcrowding is absurd. After boasting about its increasingly strict penal policy and communicating about the fight against migration, it has released hundreds of foreign human smugglers from prison, which is damaging and dangerous. We point out the main issues.
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Recommendations for Hungary in the Article 7(1) TEU procedure – GAC hearing on 30 May
On 30 May, there will be yet another hearing in the General Affairs Council in relation to Hungary in the framework of the procedure under Article 7(1) TEU that is aimed at determining whether there … Read more
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Assessment of Hungary’s judicial reforms
On 3 May 2023, the Hungarian Parliament adopted Act X of 2023 on the Amendment of Certain Laws on Justice related to the Hungarian Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Hungarian government now claims to have met all four of the so-called super milestones aimed at restoring the independence of the judiciary set by the Council of the European Union as a precondition for accessing frozen EU funds under Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF).
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Q&A – why Super Milestone 215 is not achieved
On 12 December 2022, the European Council adopted Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan after the European Commission finally approved it. Compared to the original plan, the adopted version includes a new set of benchmarks on governance and public administration, totaling 38 measures with 111 milestones and targets. 27 of these milestones are ‘super milestones’; if not met, no payment under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will be allowed. Four of the 27 super milestones concern the Hungarian judiciary.
One benchmark requires the Hungarian government to remove all obstacles to the preliminary reference procedure set out in Article 267 TFEU. This is Super Milestone 215. -
The European Court of Human Rights condemns Hungary’s inhumane refugee policy – three times in a single day
A 14-year-old asylum-seeking child was assaulted by field guards in Ásotthalom and thrown back to Serbia by Hungarian police. A 17-year-old asylum seeker was arbitrarily detained for three months. A 28-year-old torture victim asylum seeker was detained despite severe health problems. All three of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s clients appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, and all won. The Hungarian state violated their human rights and is obliged to pay just reparation.
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Parliamentary process of the bill on judicial reform breaches lawmaking rules
Today Amnesty International Hungary, the Eötvös Károly Institute and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee turned to the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, regarding concerns about the ongoing law-making process aimed at ensuring Hungary’s compliance with … Read more
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The government is yet to comply with conditions to access EU funds
As of the end of the first quarter of 2023, the Hungarian government is yet to comply with most of the conditions established by European Union institutions to access EU funds. According to Hungarian civil society organisations, the Government had not yet taken adequate steps in order to fully address the rule of law and human rights concerns raised by the EU, and so numerous issues related to the anti-corruption framework, judicial independence, law-making, the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, academic freedom and the rights of LGBTQI+ persons remain unresolved. Swift measures are necessary in all of these areas to ensure that the country and its citizens are granted access to EU funds.
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EU funds – Q&A on the implementation of Super Milestone 216
On 12 December 2022, the Council adopted Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan based on the Commission’s positive evaluation. Compared to the original plan, a new set of measures were added on governance and public administration, … Read more
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Unlawfully fencing off Hungarian PM’s office from Telex journalists: court rules in favour of press freedom
Journalists from the independent Hungarian news portal Telex were blocked from interviewing government officials arriving at a government meeting because the building of the Prime Minister’s office was fenced off by a police cordon. After an unsuccessful complaint to the police, the journalists secured a court victory today with the help of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s lawyer. In today’s ruling, the Metropolitan Regional Court in Budapest confirmed that the measure was unnecessary, disproportionate, and violated the journalists’ right to freedom of expression.
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Information for non-Ukrainian citizens fleeing from Ukraine
This leaflet has useful information for you if you don’t have Ukrainian nationality, but you lived in Ukraine and you had to leave Ukraine because of the war.