Criminalisation and taxation
The summary of legal amendments adopted in the summer of 2018 to intimidate human rights defenders in Hungary.
Topic: Rule of law
People are free in a state where the consequences of their actions are predictable and where clean and transparent rules apply not only to them, but also to state authorities. In a state where the people know what the state expects from them, but they also know what they can expect from the state.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee takes legal action to challenge the anti-NGO laws
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) filed a complaint with the Hungarian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the new criminal provision threatening with imprisonment those assisting asylum seekers. As for … Read more
No need for the Hungarian Helsinki Committee to pay the special tax on immigration
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is not involved in any activity which would fall under the scope of the new law. As a first step the new law affects donors and our supporters are the European … Read more
Illiberal democracy fails in the European Parliament
By triggering the Article 7 procedure, the European Parliament has made it clear that illiberal democracy is against the core values of the European Union. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee welcomes that the EP has validated, … Read more
Orban’s Government heads towards arbitrary rule
Summary of latest developments in Hungary since the April 2018 elections – Joint paper by Amnesty HU, HHC and HCLU After Fidesz’ overwhelming electoral victory in April 2018, many observers believed Prime Minister Orbán would … Read more
New law criminalising support to asylum-seekers is against EU laws, European Commission finds
19 July 2018. Budapest We welcome the European Commission’s (EC) decision to start an infringement procedure against the Hungarian criminal law which threatens to prosecute and jail people who help asylum-seekers and migrants with legitimate … Read more
Hungarian Government marks World Refugee Day by passing law to jail helpers
Budapest, 20 June 2018 — TODAY, on World Refugee Day the Hungarian Parliament adopted Bill T/333, a new version of the 2018 Anti-NGO package, and the Seventh Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary. Although … Read more
Attacking the Last Line of Defence – Judicial Independence in Hungary in Jeopardy
A new draft legislative package that limits judicial independence and restricts the freedom of judges to interpret the law is a serious threat to the rule of law in Hungary and runs counter to values … Read more
Bread and Water: How the Hungarian Government Plans to Lock Up its NGO Critics
On 29 May 2018, the Hungarian Government submitted a package of bills to the Hungarian Parliament as the third version of what it refers to as the ‘Stop Soros’ package. The bill no. T/333 ‘on … Read more
Professors From All Over the World Raise Their Voices – Defending the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Hungarian Civil Society
77 university professors from 28 countries of various continents expressed their solidarity with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee calling for the immediate halting of envisaged measures to starve and strangle independent civil society in Hungary. … Read more
Exposing the appalling conditions at Topház was not only correct but lawful as well
Ten months after the scandal broke concerning the Topház social care institution the Hungarian Data Protection Authority stated: the fact that the civil organization uncovering the horrible conditions took photos and published them anonymised in … 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
Helsinki Committee Wins Lawsuit Against Cabinet Office Over Stop Soros National Consultation
Today the Metropolitan Court of Budapest in its first instance ruling found that in the ‘National Consultation’ questionnaire, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister had violated the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s right to good reputation. … Read more
It would be a bulldozer, not a bill
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee shared its position with the Hungarian Government regarding the so-called “Stop Soros” draft bill. According to the human rights NGO the regulation under preparation is unacceptable and only serves constitutionally indefensible political … Read more
Hungarian Helsinki Committee together with 13 other Hungarian NGOs challenge the Lex NGO at European Court of Human Rights
Fourteen Hungarian civil society organisations have submitted a joint appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, asking the court to declare that the anti-civil act on “foreign funding” violates the groups’ fundamental rights. The … Read more
LexNGO 2018: The proposals, and our analyses and statements
On 29 May 2018, the Hungarian government published two draft laws as the third version of LexNGO 2018, or of what it refers to as the ‘Stop Soros’ package. The drafts propose using criminal law … Read more
Resisting Ill Democracies in Europe
From emerging democracies in transition, illiberal governments have rapidly transformed Hungary and Poland into ill democracies, have attempted to do so in Croatia, and are slowly and carefully entertaining an illiberal platform in Serbia, according … Read more
Partial success in the “National Consultation” lawsuit
A final order of the court required the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister to suspend the distribution of the “National Consultation questionnaires” by post and online, at least the part that refers to the … Read more
We speak truth to power
Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee spoke at the hearing on “the Situation in Hungary” in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). The speech can be read here. Intervention at … Read more
Timelines of governmental attacks against NGOs
Timeline of the series of governmental attacks against Hungarian NGOs, which constitute another step in the process aimed at establishing an “illiberal state” in Hungary