Empowering refugees and migrants to shape public affairs
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is working to support the social inclusion of refugees and migrants through their participation in a ten-session course.
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The Hungarian Kúria is not entitled to rule on EU Court submissions
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has delivered a major judgment on judicial independence. According to the CJEU, despite the fact that domestic law permits it, and that such a judgment has already been issued, only one forum can legally decide whether a Hungarian judge’s request for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU is inadmissible – and that is the CJEU itself. The Luxembourg-based Court also ruled that it was against EU law to discipline a national judge under domestic law because he had turned to the CJEU.
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JUVE Awards of Germany: the Hungarian Helsinki Committee was selected as one of the charitable projects
Defending the rule of law has been an important part of our work since 2010. Since the election of the current prime minister, the principle of the rule of law is increasingly undermined. Hungary faced successive restrictions on human rights and only a strong civil society can fight these developments – said Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee on stage while receiving a cheque with the donations at the JUVE Awards gala in Frankfurt. At the annual event of German law firms 116,050 euros were donated to the human rights organization.
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EU Court: criminalising helping asylum-seekers breaches EU law
Today the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the 2018 ‘Stop Soros’ law breaches EU law, after the European Commission took Hungary to court. The CJEU made it clear: threatening people … Read more
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Appearances are deceiving: the constitutional conflict is not about ‘migrants’
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled last December that the indiscriminate push-back of asylum-seekers to Serbia was in breach of EU law. However, the Government did not abandon the illegal practice, but instead responded with another violation: following the Polish model, it intends to use the Hungarian Constitutional Court as a means of evading the enforcement of a binding CJEU judgment.
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Europe: new report highlights increased criminalisation against migrants’ rights defenders
The demonisation of migrants is the first step leading to the attacks against those showing solidarity with them.
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EU agency Frontex charged with illegal pushbacks
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, is being held accountable for illegally pushing back a Syrian family. The family was illegally deported to Turkey by Frontex in October 2016, shortly after arriving in Greece. It is the first time that Frontex through an action for damages is held responsible before the EU General Court for illegally deporting people and violating fundamental rights. Reports of similar pushbacks by Frontex have been piling up over the past years. The Syrian family is being represented by law firm Prakken D’Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers. Prakken D’Oliveira is supported by the Dutch Council for Refugees, BKB, Sea-Watch Legal Aid Fund and Jungle Minds.
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European Court of Human Rights judgments on police ill-treatment still not executed
In its communication submitted to the Committee of Ministers, the HHC warns again that Hungary has been failing to address systemic deficiencies with regard to handling ill-treatment by the police, and so has been failing to execute the respective judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
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Asylum-seeker from Afghanistan pushed to Serbia
A story about Hungary’s dysfunctional asylum system through the experience of HHC’s client, Hasib from Afghanistan.
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Joint third party intervention at the ECtHR in Şener v. Poland, appl. no. 53371/18
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee together with the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights submitted a third party intervention in the case of Şener v. Poland, appl. no. 53371/18. The case concerns the expulsion of a … Read more
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Former Altar Boy Abused and then Sued by the Church
A special criminal trial has begun in the Pest Central District Court. The accused man, now 35 years old, was sexually molested by his priest several times since the age of 13. This counts as a crime, and amounts to sexual violence against a child. Yet the Catholic priest remained unpunished under secular criminal law. Meanwhile, Attila Pető, the former victim, is now being threatened by criminal sanction
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The Council of Europe is losing its patience in the Baka case
The Hungarian government may very well face firmer measures by the Council of Europe if it continues to fail to fully execute the judgment issued by the European Court of Human Rights in the Baka v. Hungary case. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe calls on Hungary to present the guarantees of the independence and freedom of expression of judges.
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The Right to Know – Comparative Report on Access to Classified Data in National Security Immigration Cases in Cyprus, Hungary and Poland
As part of The Right to Know project funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM), the Comparative Report on Access to Classified Data in National Security Immigration Cases in Cyprus, Hungary and … Read more
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Right to know – access to classified data in immigration cases workshop
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) are organising an expert legal workshop “Right to know – access to classified data in immigration cases”, to be held on-line, … Read more
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Armin and his father granted asylum in Hungary
‘God bless Hungary! I love Hungary and Hungarians. I have been waiting for this for two years and eight months. Thank you very much for accepting me and for granting me refugee status,’ said the sincerely shaken Abouzar Soltani on 18 August in the notes on his hearing when it was announced that he and his 12-year-old son Armin had finally received protection in Hungary. What follows is the story of what the Iranian clients of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee experienced, and the face that the Hungarian State shows to the persecuted.
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Peers from other countries recommend that the Ombudsperson is downgraded as a national human rights institution
Peers of the Hungarian Ombudsperson, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, recommend that the Commissioner’s national human rights institution status is downgraded from “A” to “B”. According to their report, the reason for the downgrading is that the Commissioner has not effectively engaged on and publicly addressed all human rights issues, including in relation to vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTI, refugees and migrants as well as constitutional court cases deemed political and institutional. This also demonstrates a lack of sufficient independence. The report echoes concerns voiced by the HHC earlier.
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The deposition of a judge is a threat to all Hungarian judges
A Hungarian administrative judge was declared unsuitable and therefore forced by her boss to leave the bench in the course of her professional evaluation. In fact, the same judge was the one, who had sent a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling because she believed the Hungarian asylum law might be in breach of the EU law.
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Hungary has not lifted a hand to implement the Baka v. Hungary judgment
The Hungarian government has for many years been reluctant to take any meaningful action to safeguard the freedom of expression and independence of Hungarian judges. The execution of the Baka v. Hungary judgment is going on since 2016, but the Hungarian state has not lifted a hand yet.
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Harrowing experience turns man into activist for people with disabilities
Bring Human Rights Home: A Story from Kazakhstan
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Challenging the national security card in asylum cases
Bringing Article 6 of ECHR into play