Psychosocial dynamics conducive to torture and ill-treatment
The HHC provided input for the upcoming report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture on psychosocial dynamics conducive to torture and ill-treatment.
Topic: Justice
Anybody may become defenceless in the face of the state’s power.
Input for the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The HHC’s input for the Special Rapporteur’s report on “Psychosocial dynamics conducive to torture and ill-treatment”
New changes in the Hungarian criminal procedure due to COVID-19
Information note by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee on the rules applicable as of 1 June 2020
The situation in Hungarian prisons in light of COVID-19
Information update
Communication to the Committee of Ministers on prison overcrowding pilot judgment
The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers on the execution of a 2015 pilot judgment on inadequate detention conditions in Hungarian prisons and the related compensation system. The HHC is of the view that the Hungarian Government should be under strict scrutiny while carrying out its announced review of the system of compensations for prison overcrowding.
European Court of Human Rights judgments on police ill-treatment remain not executed
In its communication submitted to the Committee of Ministers, the HHC warns 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.
Changes in the Hungarian criminal procedure due to COVID-19
On 31 March 2020, the Hungarian Government issued a decree that overrode certain provisions of the Hungarian Code of Criminal Procedure with a view to state of danger declared by the Government due to the … Read more
The situation in Hungarian prisons in light of COVID-19
Information update
Compensations for inadequate detention conditions threatened by the Government
In January, the Government unexpectedly announced that it intends to amend the system of compensations awarded to inmates for poor detention conditions. This may violate Hungary’s international obligations and points to the inadequacy of domestic policy, while the Government’s hostile rhetoric targeting detainees and their attorneys is unacceptable.
Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health, and cultural rights of children. The implementation of the CRC … Read more
According to the Hungarian Constitutional Court “nobody has the right to poverty and homelessness, this condition is not part of the right to human dignity”
The general prohibition of residing on public premises for habitation was placed on constitutional level after the amendment of the Fundamental Law in 2018. The Act on Misdemeanors was also amended in October 2018. After … Read more
Reports to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a UN Convention, adopted in 1965 and is in force in Hungary since 1969. The Convention is monitored by the UN … Read more
Briefing papers for the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)
HHC briefing papers related to the CPT’s ad hoc and periodic visits to Hungary
The Right of Access to a Lawyer and Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings in Hungary
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee was a partner in the international project “Strengthening procedural rights in criminal proceedings: effective implementation of the right to a lawyer/legal aid under the Stockholm Programme”, coordinated by the Bulgarian Helsinki … Read more
Reports to the UN Human Rights Committee
The HHC’s shadow reports and its suggestions for questions to be included in the List of Issues for the UN Human Rights Committee
Article 7 – Access to Case Materials in the Investigation Phase of the Criminal Procedure in Hungary
Promoting access to case materials of defendants and their defense counsels in criminal proceedings has been a long-standing priority of the HHC, and is related to activities involving a series of successful applications submitted to … Read more
Follow-up of the ECtHR pilot judgment on prison overcrowding
In its March 2015 pilot judgment issued in the Varga and Others v. Hungary case (in which three of the applicants were represented by the HHC), the European Court of Human Rights concluded that the overcrowding of penitentiaries in Hungary constitutes a structural problem, and Hungary should produce a plan to reduce overcrowding.
Investigation of Ill-treatment by the Police in Europe – Comparative Study of Seven EU Countries
Ill-treatment has been prohibited by international and regional instruments and conventions for many decades. Yet torture and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of state officials, and particularly those engaged in … Read more
Research Report on the Accessiblity of Letters of Rights in Hungary
Do defendants with no legal background understand their rights in criminal procedure? Do they know that they have the right to remain silent? Are they aware of what remaining in silence means in practice? In … Read more
Submissions to the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Justice on prison overcrowding
In its March 2015 judgment issued in the Varga and Others v. Hungary case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concluded that the overcrowding of penitentiaries in Hungary constitutes a structural problem, and Hungary … Read more