The government’s assault on the rule of law and democratic institutions continued in 2024 with a controversial law that gives a government-appointed body broad powers that can be used to harass civil society and independent media. The government also faced a political crisis following a presidential pardon in a child sexual abuse scandal that led the president and justice minister to resign and triggered countrywide protests.
Other prominent rights concerns in Hungary include ongoing unlawful pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers at Hungary’s border with Serbia, and discrimination against and demonization of LGBT people, women and girls, and minority groups.
Attacks on Rule of Law and Public Institutions
The government continues to exercise extraordinary powers pursuant to a “state of danger” decree issued in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which replaced a Covid-19 “state of danger” declared in 2020. The emergency powers enable the government to rule by decree and override any act of parliament. A separate emergency decree has been in force since 2015 over a “state of crisis due to mass migration.” The government has misused its excessive powers, among other things, to overrule judicial decisions and restrict teachers’ right to strike.
In February, a controversial Defence of National Sovereignty law entered into force, establishing a new Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) with unchecked power to access government and intelligence data and investigate anyone deemed a threat to Hungary’s sovereignty or national security. In September 2023, the parliamentary leader of the ruling party Fidesz had said the law would be used against “foreign-funded journalists, pseudo NGOs and dollar-funded politicians.” In June 2024, Transparency International Hungary and independent news site Atlatszo came under investigation by the new office. The European Commission in October referred Hungary to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), saying the law and SPO violated several provisions of EU law. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission also in March called on Hungary to repeal the law as it relates to the Sovereignty Protection Office.
In April, parliament passed a law that undermines the independence of courts, the prosecution service, and investigative bodies overseen by the prosecution service. The law, according to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, allows the Ministry of Justice to acquire protected information it would not normally have access to, and interfere in and influence court proceedings.
In August, authorities revoked the operational licenses for three schools run by the Methodist Evangelical Church (MET) serving predominantly socioeconomically underprivileged and otherwise marginalized children. The government has repeatedly attacked MET, starting with the stripping of its church status in 2011 through a constitutional amendment, resulting in loss of tax subsidies for its programs. The deregistration of the MET was ruled unlawful by both the Hungarian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Freedom of Media
The Hungarian government continues to severely restrict media freedom and pluralism, including through its control of the media regulatory body and political interference with the public service broadcaster. Journalists have difficulties accessing public information and continue to face smear campaigns by pro-government media and public officials. In June, as noted above, the new Sovereignty Protection Office launched an investigation into independent investigative media outlet Atlatszo.
Also in June, police and counterterrorism officials interfered with the work of journalists from independent online news site Telex.hu, preventing them from reporting from a public gathering where they had hoped to interview Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
Throughout the year, local authorities in Fidesz-run cities and communities prevented two stand-up comedians and political satirists from performing, with one local government official stating that political parodies were not allowed.
Attacks on Civil Society
Pro-government media and government officials continued their attacks on civil society organizations. In June, SPO made baseless allegations that Transparency International Hungary was supporting foreign activities which “influence the decisions by the electorate” by using foreign support. Transparency International filed a complaint asking the Constitutional Court to declare the creation and operations of the office unconstitutional.
In September, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty submitted a third party intervention in a case before the European Court of Human Rights lodged by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee concerning the criminalization of civil society activities aiding asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. The commissioner stated that Hungary’s criminalization of such activities violates the European Convention on Human Rights’ provisions on freedom of association and assembly.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people continue to face discrimination and demonization.
In September, the Advocate General of the CJEU issued an opinion calling on Hungarian authorities to correct a transgender refugee’s gender marker in national registries. A 2020 law banned transgender or intersex people from legally changing their gender. In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that the ban does not apply to trans people who started their legal process before May 2020, allowing some and preventing other trans people from changing their markers.
Women’s and Girls’ Reproductive Rights
The government continues to ban over-the-counter emergency contraception in violation of women’s and girls’ right to health. As a result, women and girls must see a doctor to procure emergency contraception, even in cases of sexual assault, which may delay or prevent them from getting the care they need.
Discrimination against Roma
Discrimination against Roma in education, health care, and employment persists. In March, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which monitors the implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments, found that Hungary was failing to address school segregation of Romani children.
Migrants and Asylum Seekers
Access to Hungary’s asylum procedure remained virtually impossible following a 2020 law preventing most asylum seekers from lodging protection claims in Hungary.
According to police data cited by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 5,491,181 crossings from Ukraine to Hungary took place between February 24, 2022, and September 2, 2024. By July 2024, 46,149 people in Hungary had registered for temporary protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive triggered by Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
In August, a government decree terminated shelter support to certain Ukrainian refugees from places in Ukraine not considered war-torn areas by the government, leaving thousands homeless. The majority of the approximately 3,000 people affected are Transcarpathian Roma (from western Ukraine), many of them children.
Authorities continue to unlawfully push migrants and asylum seekers back to Serbia, sometimes violently. The number of “arrests and escorts across the fence” significantly dropped from 58,000 to 1,830 between January and August 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, as Serbian law enforcement moved migrants to reception facilities in other regions.
In June, the European Court of Human Rights in three separate cases ruled that Hungary had unlawfully detained and starved asylum seekers in 2019 and 2017, including a 5-year-old child, in the then-operational transit zone set up at the Serbian border.
In March, the European Court of Human Rights ruled unlawful Hungary’s six-month arbitrary detention of a Syrian woman fleeing war and forced marriage.
The CJEU in June ordered Hungary to pay a €200 million fine for its on-going restrictions on the right to asylum, saying that the government committed an “unprecedent and exceptionally serious breach of EU law.” The court also stated that Hungary must pay an additional penalty of €1 million per day if it fails to make its September payment deadline. The money will be drawn from Hungary’s allocated share of the EU budget, parts still frozen over other rule of law abuses. At this writing, Hungary had still not paid the fine.
International Justice
In July, Prime Minister Orbán met with Russian President Putin in Moscow despite an ICC arrest warrant against Putin over the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. EU institutions and member states condemned the meeting, with the European Parliament calling it a “blatant violation of the EU’s treaties and common foreign policy.” By meeting Putin, Orbán did not respect the EU’s commonpolicy to cooperate with the ICC, which states that “the EU and its Member States should avoid non-essential contacts with individuals subject to an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.”