Each year hundreds of thousands leave their home due to wars, hunger, torture and persecution globally. In Europe, although often perceived as a safe region, asylum-seekers are often met by refusal, detention and expulsion.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee works towards providing effective assistance to those fleeing to Hungary.
WING is a transnational initiative running from 1st June 2025 to 31st May 2027, funded under the CERV programme (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) of the European Commission. It is jointly implemented by eight civil society organizations from across … Read more
This report presents key insights from seven refugee-assisting organisations in Europe, including the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. As part of the Caring to Include project, it identifies challenges, good practices, and clear priorities for improving staff mental well-being and embedding trauma-informed approaches.
In a landmark judgment, the European Court of Human Rights has mandated the Hungarian government to pay just satisfaction to three asylum seekers represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee after determining their expulsion from Hungary … Read more
We hosted the first toolkit development meeting on the mental well-being of staff and volunteer in Budapest for our partners in the Caring to Include project, coordinated by the Dutch Council for Refugees and funded by Erasmus+.
June 20 is World Refugee Day. Meanwhile, in Hungary, the word “refugee” has become a slur, and xenophobia underpins government policy. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organization devoted to defending persecuted people, firmly rejects this approach. Its refugee clients have just won two more cases at the European Court of Human Rights. In both cases, children – even with serious health conditions – were victims of rights violations by Hungarian authorities.
Despite having a Hungarian wife and daughter and living lawfully in Hungary for 31 years, a Turkish father was expelled from the country. He was not even informed of the reasons why his presence was considered a security risk. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has awarded him just satisfaction amounting to approximately six million forints, ruling that the Hungarian state expelled him without ensuring a fair trial and adequate judicial remedy. Orhan Demirci was represented by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) contains information on asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention and international protection based on data from 24 countries, including Hungary. The report on Hungary for 2024 issued by the Hungarian Helsinki … Read more
The project seeks to provide high-quality, free-of-charge legal assistance and representation to asylum-seekers and other persons of concern to UNHCR in Hungary, as well as to ensure through information provision and situation monitoring, evidence-based advocacy and strategic litigation activities that the … Read more
According to the judgment rendered by the CJEU, the GDPR obliges Hungarian authorities to correct personal data on gender identity where it is inaccurate, i.e. in all cases where the social reality and gender identity … Read more
Hungarian authorities violated an Iranian asylum seeker’s human rights by detaining him under inhumane and degrading conditions for 13 months in the Tompa transit zone, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s client was awarded €4,500 in just satisfaction. With this, the human rights NGO has now won its 110th case in Strasbourg.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has published a handbook on the involvement of young people and teachers in human rights work.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the invasion of Putin’s Russia for three years. Currently, tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine live in Hungary. While the government keeps restricting its support to them, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has so far provided information and legal assistance to over 14,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Interview with Anikó Bakonyi, Refugee Programme Director at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled against the Hungarian state, in favour of a family seeking asylum . The ruling states that the Hungarian authorities violated the human rights of four children and two adults by unlawfully detaining them in the transit zone and withholding food. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) represented the family in this case, marking their 109th favourable ruling at the ECtHR.
This Template presents the relevant EU law and the relevant Court of Justice of the European Union case law, as well as the pertinent provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the applicable … Read more
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)
A comprehensive research study on how the issue of applicants’ right to know and to access classified information is regulated in immigration-related proceedings in the Member States of the European Union, and whether national frameworks are in line with European standards was published earlier in 2024 by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. The study identified a number of breaches of these standards, which are now specifically highlighted in a policy brief, primarily with the purpose of drawing the European Committee’s attention to these breaches and the need to monitor compliance issues in this area.
Caring to Include is a project that supports refugees, migrants, and their helpers. We create trauma-informed resources, provide training, and build a community of practice across Europe.
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
We received this year’s Paul Weis Prize for our commitment to human rights, the rule of law, and refugees. This recognition gives us further encouragement, not only in the field of asylum but also in other areas of civil rights advocacy.
The Hungarian state violated the human rights of an asylum-seeking boy when it unlawfully detained him for 86 days in prison conditions in the Röszke and Tompa transit zones, the European Court of Human Rights … Read more