The Hungarian Government does not agree with the findings concerning Hungary of Amnesty International’s annual report presented on 23 May.

The Government believes that Hungary has taken major steps in the areas of human rights covered by the report as well as in other areas concerning human rights in the past two years. During its EU Presidency, Hungary achieved that the EU should finally place on its agenda and approve a Roma framework strategy and the Hungarian Government was the first from among the EU’s Member States to complete its national Roma Strategy. The new Hungarian church legislation, even in the esteemed opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, is one of Europe’s most generous church laws which does not restrict anyone’s freedom of religion. The Government set up a Human Rights Task Force, and Hungary’s new Fundamental Law provides wider civic rights for its citizens than at any time before. Significant measures have been taken for the elimination of street homelessness. The freedom of the press, speech and opinion is guaranteed by the Hungarian Constitution, the media constitution and the media law. These measures have been carefully left out of Amnesty International’s report, as have been the insults and injustices Hungarians living beyond the borders are regularly exposed to.

Fundamental Law: provides wider than ever civic rights

Hungary’s new Fundamental Law provides wider than ever civic rights for the citizens of Hungary and was conceived in the spirit of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. We wish to remind Amnesty International that Hungary was the only country in Central Europe which was unable to create a new constitution after the change of regime, while the rest of the former socialist countries successfully accomplished this feat in the 90s (at the beginning of the nineties), Poland having been the last in 1997. Hungary’s fundamental law dated from 1949; until recently, Hungary had a Stalin-type, transitional constitution.

The Constitution lays down the individual and collective rights of the country’s citizens, whichever national minority they may belong to, and defines the fundamental freedom rights in the spirit of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It declares the inviolability of human dignity, the right to freedom and personal security and the protection of property. It identifies specific measures for the protection of women, children, the elderly and individuals with disabilities. The Fundamental Law makes clear that it is not sufficient for the State to provide equal rights; it is further the duty of the State to create equal opportunities. The Fundamental Law lays down that everyone is equal before the law. Every human being has legal capacity. Hungary provides the fundamental rights for everyone without distinction or discrimination, whether based on race, colour, gender, disability, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national or social origin, financial, birth or any other situation. Women and men are equal, have equal rights. By virtue of the passage of the new constitution, Hungary reinforces its commitment to the values of the constitutional state and democracy, preserves the traditions of Hungarian parliamentarism within the framework of the republican form of state, maintains the established institutions of the current state organisation, attributes the significance deserved to fundamental freedom rights and draws the necessary conclusions from the errors of the operation of the constitutional state in the past twenty years and the deficiencies of the regulations concerning the protection of public funds. The new constitution thereby enables the citizens of the country to internalise the values of the change of regime and reinforces their faith in democracy.

On the whole, the new constitution conforms to Europe’s constitutional traditions, fulfils all relevant conditions of the constitutional state and is fully compatible with our undertakings made at the time of our accession to the European Union.

A Human Rights Task Force has been established

The Government set up a Human Rights Task Force in February for the protection of human rights, whose main duty it is to monitor the enforcement of human rights in Hungary, to engage, to this end, in ongoing consultation with civil organisations, interest representations, professional organisations and constitutional agencies, and to promote professional communication related to the enforcement of human rights in Hungary. One of its main goals is to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made by the 11th session of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Report (UPR) Working Group (May 2011) with respect to Hungary that were fully or partially endorsed by Hungary. It is further the duty of the Task Force to make recommendations for the Government concerning legislation and law application to guarantee the fullest enforcement of human rights in Hungary. Additionally, a Human Rights Round Table was also established, the purpose of which it is to enable the task force to conduct consultations with civil organisations, interest representations and professional organisations investigating the enforcement of human rights in Hungary and to make recommendations in connection with the activities and tasks of the task force.

Hungary was the first in the EU to prepare and to implement a Roma strategy

The situation of the Roma in Hungary requires the Government, the civil sector and professional organisations to perform a number of tasks.

Since its establishment, the Government has, in this field, embarked on a series of measures repeatedly put off in the last twenty years; it identified specific goals and tasks and entered into an agreement for their joint attainment and implementation with the National Roma Government. The EU placed on its agenda and approved a Roma framework strategy during Hungary’s EU Presidency. This very week, the National Social Inclusion Strategy was met with major recognition; this document duly reflects the goals identified during Hungary’s EU Presidency in 2011 and attained since.

The Hungarian Government was the first to approve and to submit to the EU its National Social Inclusion Strategy and the related action plan because it was fully aware that one of Hungary’s gravest problems is the gradual deterioration of the situation of those living in poverty, including the Roma population. This results in a major disadvantage and exclusion from opportunities in the areas of learning, employment and health care services. This in consequence also leads to the deterioration of the already poor living conditions of those living in disadvantaged regions and on the peripheries of localities.

The violent attacks on the Roma occurred in 2008 and 2009; these crimes inspired by racism had a highly detrimental effect not only on the victims and their communities themselves but also on the whole of society, experts believe. The Government has taken firm measures to improve the efficiency of the administration of justice, criminal proceedings and the activities of the police in order, inter alia, to prevent the recurrence of such violent attacks and to ensure that they are not left without retribution. The new Penal Code currently before Parliament makes specific mention of the typical target individuals and target groups of prejudice- or hatred-based offences, and continues to severely penalise the perpetrators of such crimes. Consequently, individuals who attack Roma, gay people, disabled individuals or the members of other communities will not go unpunished, but neither will those who commit such acts to the injury of those forming part of the majority. Additionally, the new Penal Code will provide heavier punishment for those who commit offences against children, and will take a more firm stance on violence within the family, including emotional injury.

Freedom of religion – One of Europe’s most generous church laws

The new church legislation confirmed religious freedom in Hungary. Hungary recognises churches and religious communities as a highly important cohesive force of society with a firm set of values. The new Hungarian church law is, even in the esteemed opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, one of Europe’s most generous church laws which does not restrict anyone’s religious freedom and guarantees at present the operation of 32 churches recognised by Parliament, thereby covering the entire religious spectrum of Hungarian society. The new church legislation, in harmony with the Fundamental Law, conforms to Hungary’s international commitments and is fully in conformity with the covenants set forth in Articles 2, 18 and 26 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Articles 2, 18 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in Articles 9 and 14 of the Covenant concerning the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in Article 1 of Optional Protocol 12 to the Covenant and in Article 10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The new church law is also in harmony with Article 17(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which delegates the statutory regulation of religious and church affairs to national competence.

Media law

The freedom of the press, speech and opinion is guaranteed in Hungary by the Hungarian Constitution, the media constitution and the media law. Neither the Hungarian Government, nor any other political or civil organisation has the right or the possibility to intervene in the day-to-day work of the electronic and conventional media and editorial boards. In Hungary, the printed and Internet press is supervised by autonomous professional organisations based on an agreement entered into with the authorities. Similar to the standing European practice, television channels and radio stations are supervised by an autonomous state administration agency that is independent of the Government, the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, within the boundaries of the Constitution and the legal rules concerning media administration. Any decision taken by the Media Council may be appealed against before the independent Hungarian courts.

Situation of the homeless

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in September 2011 in which it urges Member States to end street homelessness by 2015. The resolution calls upon Member States to provide access for the homeless to affordable housing and initiates the utilisation of EU funding for this purpose. In harmony with the guidelines laid down by the EU, the Government of Hungary is seeking ways to reduce homelessness, to prevent homelessness and to improve the social integration of the homeless. To this end, a number of measures have been taken, model programmes have been introduced and legal rules have been amended, while the system of homeless care services is currently being reviewed. The Government has recently intensified its cooperation with the Metropolitan Municipality and homeless care provider organisations. As a result, everyone had access to accommodation during the extraordinarily cold winter days this year; compared with years before when 30 to 130 people froze to death on metropolitan public premises, the extreme cold this year only claimed a single victim.

Gender identity

Last but not least, regardless of their sexual orientation, citizens in Hungary are free to express their gender identity. According to the report recently issued by an international organisation similar to Amnesty International (see here), the situation of homosexuals in Hungary is the most favourable in Central-Europe.

(MTI)