Anybody may become defenceless in the face of the state’s power.
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
Information update
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.
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
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
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
HHC briefing papers related to the CPT’s ad hoc and periodic visits to 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
The HHC’s shadow reports and its suggestions for questions to be included in the List of Issues for the UN Human Rights Committee
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
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.
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
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
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
During the past few years, pre-trial detainees have made up almost one-third of the prison population in Hungary, contributing to the overcrowding of the penitentiary system, which, according to a 2015 judgment of the European … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has been monitoring the law and practice related to the rights of defendants for years and has been participating in numerous national and international projects related to the issue. In addition, … Read more
In the last decade, the HHC’s attorneys have successfully litigated cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in relation to ill-treatment by the police. Therefore, the HHC has special interest in the execution … Read more
The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe with regard to the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to the overcrowding in Hungarian penitentiaries.
Summary of HHC main human rights concerns
As an implementing partner organization of Fair Trials International the HHC is launching its new project to provide a unique evidence-base about the practice of pre-trial detention.