Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief: The Right to a Dignified Final Farewell

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) and the Support Network for Detainees and Their Families (FECSKE) have submitted input to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief for her forthcoming thematic report on Death and the Honouring of the Deceased. The submission highlights how detainees in Hungary are routinely denied the right to a dignified final farewell – a right rooted in human dignity and the right to respect for private and family life. 

Although the existing legal framework – despite its shortcomings – is intended to allow detainees the possibility to bid a dignified farewell to their loved ones, more than three-quarters of requests made by detainees in 2024 to visit dying relatives, attend funerals, or pay respects at graves were rejected, often without any meaningful individual assessment. Even when permission is granted, attendance frequently occurs under degrading conditions, such as in handcuffs or prison uniforms. These practices not only violate human dignity but also cause profound psychological harm on detainees and their families, and may hinder the exercise of freedom of religion or belief in end-of-life contexts. 

The submission calls for reforms to ensure humane and proportionate conditions for final farewells. The HHC and FECSKE urge the Hungarian authorities to implement relevant European Court of Human Rights judgments and to restore independent and effective monitoring mechanisms, ensuring that no one is deprived of the right to a dignified final farewell. 

Read the full submission here.