The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held a hearing in the case of Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary. It concerned the detention of two asylum-seekers in the transit zone for 23 days as well as their removal from Hungary to Serbia.
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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 their report was not unlawful. Validity Foundation’s actions served the interest of the affected residents.
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The Administrative and Labour Court, Szeged repealed the decision of the Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office which allowed the use of psychological testing in determining an asylum seeker’s sexual orientation.
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As a result of the elections held on 8 April 2018, the political force that received the mandate to govern for another 4 years will have a supermajority in the Parliament. The winning party made it very clear that it will drastically and promptly live up to the threats it made against organizations it dislikes. We have no doubt that they will keep their ’promise’ as soon and as drastically as possible.
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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 to the new case study Resisting Ill Democracies in Europe.
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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 objectives, includes pointless regulations, and as such the organization categorically rejects it.
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When we turn to the European Court of Human Rights, generally we try to draw attention to those structural problems which are not or cannot be remedied by the Hungarian authorities and courts: dismissal of public officials without justification, inhuman circumstances of detention, or unreasonable deprivation of one’s personal freedom.
We provide free legal assistance to asylum seekers, stateless persons and unaccompanied minors in Hungary. Reuniting separated families is one of our main objectives. Through our training and research activities, we foster a high-quality, effective and humane asylum procedure – both inside Hungary and in other parts of the world. We combat xenophobia.
We aim at decreasing the defenceless of people: we provide support to those in contact with the police and the penitentiary system, and we provide legal advice and representation to victims of ill-treatment by official persons or other severe abuses. In addition, we regularly monitor prisons and other places of detention in order to make closed institutions more transparent.
People are free in a state where the consequences of their actions are predictable and where clean and transparent rules apply not only to the individuals, but also to state authorities. Where the state power has no clear limits, there is no individual freedom either. It is important for us that the Hungarian democracy operates on the basis of the rule of law – that is why we step up in its defence.
Everybody should be treated equally; however, we still experience discrimination at many areas of life. For example, members of minorities can be victims of hate crime. We primarily provide legal aid for detainees and asylum seekers fighting against discrimination.