Transit zones have been shut down for 3.5 years in Hungary, but this cruel detention regime has not disappeared without a trace and is still haunting the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Yesterday, the number of its judgments in which asylum seeker applicants won against Hungary, all successfully represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, rose to ten.
In a shocking report, The Guardian revealed that Hungarian authorities pushed out even severely injured asylum seekers to Serbia. We have been drawing attention to this issue for a long time and continue to provide legal assistance to … Read more
Prisoners are just as vulnerable to insect bites as others living in closed institutions.
The Hungarian Government declared the first state of danger more than three and a half years ago. Since March 2020, except for a few months, the Government has maintained a “rule by decree” system. Even now. This allows the Government to override acts from one day to the next, and the Government has been taking advantage of this opportunity to adopt hundreds of emergency decrees. Many of these have no connection to the pandemic or the war in Ukraine and only serve the Government’s political purposes.
According to a recent assessment by civil society organisations, the Hungarian government has so far not complied with most of the conditions necessary to access EU funds. The government has not taken firm steps to fully address the rule of law and human rights problems that the European Union had identified. Barely anything has improved compared to the bleak situation at the end of April. The most significant deficiency relates to the compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, since the government hasn’t completely fulfilled any of the related four conditions.
Budapest, 22 November 2023 The leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group yesterday presented a package of laws that are called “defense of sovereignty” but are in fact designed to protect the arbitrary exercise of power. … Read more
The Hungarian government had not taken adequate steps in order to fully address the rule of law, corruption and human rights concerns raised by EU institutions, and so it had not complied with most of the conditions of accessing EU funds.
Selected rule of law and human rights developments in the light of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure
Hungary’s access to EU funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and under ten operative programmes are connected to a complex set of benchmarks, amongst these, four so-called super milestones aimed at strengthening the … Read more
In an ever-evolving legal landscape, staying ahead of the curve is essential. The STARLIGHT programme, a joint initiative by the Hertie School and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), has paved the way for 60 legal practitioners in the European Union to harness the full potential of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) through strategic litigation.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is implementing the YES project (Youth Engagement and Sensitization for Refugee Integration and an Inclusive Hungarian Society) between September 2022 and August 2024, with the support of terre des hommes Germany. With the project, on the one hand, we help young refugees and immigrants living in Hungary to become active participants in their communities and Hungarian society. On the other hand, we increase the awareness of Hungarian youth and teachers through sessions that help them understand the situation of refugees and immigrants. The YES project was born out of our wish to encourage refugees and immigrants – who belong to a minority with one of the most negative portrayals in Hungary – to feel more at home in Hungary by becoming more visible and equal.
The Hungarian government declared a state of danger for the first time in March 2020. Under a draft law recently put to public consultation, this would soon be extended again, until the end of May 2024. The Ministry of Justice which prepared the draft law “justified” the proposal with a single sentence. However, according to Amnesty International Hungary, the Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the regulatory framework of the state of danger should be transformed and the Government’s unjustified, excessive regulatory powers should be put to an end.
HHC attended the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference and submitted statements on shrinking civic space, violations of the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers, freedom of assembly, and the rule of law.
More than seven years have passed since the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered the Baka v. Hungary judgment, requiring Hungarian authorities to lift and countervail the “chilling effect” on the freedom of expression … Read more
Hungarian authorities forcibly transferred a Yemeni family of seven and an Afghan three-member family to Serbia in 2019. They all applied for asylum at Budapest Airport but were pushed out via the border fence. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled today that the Hungarian state violated the prohibition of collective expulsions and inhuman or degrading treatment. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee represented the asylum seekers, including a child with Down’s syndrome, in the case.
The transit zones have been shut down for three and a half years, but this cruel detention regime did not disappear without a trace, still haunting the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On … Read more
Our updated assessment of Hungary’s compliance with the 4 super milestones aimed at restoring the independence of the judiciary looks at the implementation of the judicial package adopted in May 2023 by the Hungarian Parliament. … Read more
The state must not abandon victims of police ill-treatment, even if they are collectively expelled foreigners. Nor can it grant impunity to abusers in uniform, a Strasbourg Court judgment confirmed yesterday. Hungarian police officers had … Read more
Are you a lawyer, passionate about protecting fundamental rights across Europe, and eager to develop your skills and knowledge to unlock the power of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter)? If so, STARLIGHT is for you.
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