Project Right to faith: protecting the right to freedom of religion in Hungary

Since 2015, the systematic government’s anti-migrant hate campaign has strongly relied on an Islamophobic and anti-Muslim rhetoric, which has increased intolerance of the majority population towards Muslim communities.

With this backdrop, the HHC decided to execute the project Right to faith: protecting the right to freedom of religion in Hungary over 2018 and 2019, funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Budapest.

The project included a needs assessment with actors from the Muslim community who are currently and potentially affected by discrimination and hate crimes, a knowledge exchange workshop with leaders of the Muslim community, and two local community events (involving Muslim and non-Muslim attendees) in Budapest.

Through the implementation of this project, we found that the Hungarian Muslim community (mainly women) is in dear need of empowerment, legal knowledge, and awareness-raising activities that focus on how to tackle experiences of discrimination, hate speech, and hate crime.

The HHC is looking forward to continuing its awareness raising events and workshops with the aim of improving the relationship between peoples from different faiths in Hungary by educating the public and empowering the Hungarian Muslim community through practical and legal advice on how to tackle hate speech and discrimination.