Anybody may become defenceless in the face of the state’s power.
How the Ombudsperson’s weak independence and concentrated mandates weaken fundamental rights protection – Human rights defenders assess the performance of Hungary’s national human rights institution
VicTory contributes to the effective and coherent implementation of legislation and practices that protect victims’ rights, provide appropriate support to victims throughout the criminal procedure and prevent secondary victimisation. Through a victim-centred approach, VicTory provides … Read more
The aim of the project is to improve the implementation of the EU Directives on procedural rights in relation to people belonging to vulnerable groups at high risk of police mistreatment in Poland and Hungary. … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is participating in a European research project examining the impact of digitalisation on procedural rights in criminal proceedings in Hungary. The project aims to promote the implementation of digitalisation in criminal proceedings in a way that ensures the consistent and complete enforcement of procedural rights, providing a uniform and adequate level of protection across the EU.
Despite rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and repeated calls by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe over the past 13 years, Hungary still fails to tackle prison overcrowding and inhumane detention conditions. As a result, large-scale rights violations persist.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s replies to requests to provide information by the Hungarian national focal point for the FRANET research network of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is participating in a European research project that examines the impact of digitalisation on procedural rights in criminal proceedings in Hungary. The project aims to ensure that, as criminal justice systems are digitalised, Member States safeguard the uniform and full enforcement of procedural rights across the entire EU.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) utilised all human rights CSO tools (research, advocacy, empowerment, strategic litigation, public- and professional awareness raising) to eliminate mandatory glass partitioning between inmates and their family members in Hungarian prisons during visits for seven years. The seven-year-long status quo is currently changing.
The aim of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s project is to improve the quality of contact in prisons. The preservation of family ties is fundamental to the reintegration of prisoners, so it is not only in … Read more
In October 2024, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee submitted its observations to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the Gubacsi v. Hungary group of cases for the 7th time. This group of … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee participated at the 2024 OSCE Human Dimension Conference and took the floor and provided written submissions on the situation of human rights defenders and civic space, on the rights of asylum-seekers … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee coordinated a coalition of three civil society organisations (CSOs) working in Hungary to contribute to General Comment 27 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), which focuses on children’s rights to access to justice and effective remedies. In its draft General Comment, the CRC aims to clarify the terms, approaches and actions that States should take to implement the right of all children to access to justice and effective remedies when their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child fail to be respected.
The two-year novel capacity-building programme by the Hertie School Executive Education and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, concludes in Berlin.
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 once again 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.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee contributes as a project partner to the EU-funded project ‘LGBTIQ Detainees: Strengthening the rights of LGBTIQ detainees in the EU’, coordinated by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights. … Read more
The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the execution of the judgments in the X.Y. v. Hungary group of cases on pre-trial detention. The communication argues that the group of judgments cannot be considered implemented, and deficiencies regarding pre-trial measures in the Hungarian criminal justice system remain.
The Criminal Justice Programme of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) drafted a comprehensive response to the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency’s (FRA) FRANET research network’s Hungarian focal point touching upon 18 topics related to Criminal Detention in the European Union: Conditions and Monitoring.
A ministerial decree has been published, outlining the comprehensive rules for the implementing of a credit system in Hungarian penitentiary institutions starting from 1 March 2024. The core concept of the credit system revolves around the … Read more
Nine years after the European Court of Human Rights condemned Hungary for violating the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment due to its prison conditions, detainees continue to face substandard living conditions that fall short … Read more
Hungary has failed to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that established large-scale rights violations concerning detention conditions. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has expressed concern several times regarding the recent surge in the number of persons detained in Hungarian penitentiaries, which led to overcrowding and substandard detention conditions. Additionally, evidence is provided by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) that there is still a lack of effective remedy for prisoners against decisions taken in the prison system, along with the compensation system suffering from several shortcomings already clearly identified by the Committee of Ministers.