Toggle navigation menu.
Flag of Hungary 368x331

Human Rights in Hungary

  • Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin
    US












Senate

113th Congress, First Session

Madam President, earlier this year I chaired a Helsinki Commission hearing on the situation in Hungary. Today, I would like to revisit some of the issues addressed by our witnesses.

Since the April 2010 elections, Hungary has undertaken the most dramatic legal transformation that Europe has seen in decades. A new Constitution was passed with votes of the ruling party alone, and even that has already been amended five times. More than 700 new laws have been passed, including laws on the media, religion, and civic associations. There is a new civil code and a new criminal code. There is an entirely new electoral framework. The magnitude and scope of these changes have understandably put Hungary under a microscope.

At the Helsinki Commission’s hearing in March, I examined concerns that these changes have undermined Hungary’s system of democratic checks and balances, independence of the judiciary, and freedoms of the media and religion. I also received testimony about rising revisionism and extremism. I heard from Jozsef Szajer, a Member of the European Parliament who represented the Hungarian Government at the hearing. Princeton constitutional law expert Kim Lane Scheppelle, Dr. Paul Shapiro from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Sylvana Habdank-Kolaczkowska from Freedom House presented compelling testimony.

Unfortunately, developments in Hungary remain troubling.

Even though Hungary’s religion law was tweaked after the Constitutional Court struck down parts of it, it retains a discriminatory two-tier system. Moreover, the Parliament is empowered with the extraordinary and, for all practical purposes, unreviewable power to decide what is and what is not a religion.

This month, the government announced it is launching an investigation into the Methodist Evangelical Church, a church persecuted during communist times. Today, the Methodist Evangelical Church is known for its outreach to Roma, work with the homeless and is one of the largest charitable organizations in Hungary. As I noted at the Helsinki Commission hearing in March, it is also one of the hundreds of religious groups stripped of official recognition after the passage of Hungary’s new religion law.

The church has now complied with submitting the necessary number of supporters required by the law and, as a reply, the government has announced an unidentified “expert” will conduct an investigation into the church’s beliefs and tenets. This step only reinforces fears that parliamentary denial of recognition as a so-called “Accepted Church” opens the door for further repressive measures.

Veneration of Hungary’s wartime regent, Miklos Horthy, along with other anti-Semitic figures such as writer Jozsef Nyiro, continues. In November, a statue of Hungarian Jewish poet Miklos Radnoti, who was killed by Hungarian Nazis at the end of 1944, was rammed with a car and broken in half. At roughly the same time, extremists staged a book burning of his works along with other materials they called “Zionist publications.” At the beginning of December, two menorahs were vandalized in Budapest.

Reflecting the climate of extremism, more than 160 Hungarian nationals have been found by Canada this year to have a well-founded fear of persecution. Almost all are Romani, but the refugees include an 80-year-old award winning Hungarian Jewish writer who received death threats after writing about anti-Semitism in Hungary, and was stripped of his honorary citizenship of Budapest on an initiative from the far-right Jobbik party, supported by the votes of the ruling Fidesz party.

While there are many who suggest the real problem comes from the extremist opposition party Jobbik, and not the ruling government, it seems that some members of Fidesz have contributed to a rise in intolerance.

I am particularly troubled that the government-created Media Council, consisting entirely of Fidesz delegated members, has threatened ATV–an independent television station–with punitive fines if it again characterizes Jobbik as extremist. If you can’t even talk about what is extremist or anti-Semitic in Hungary without facing legal sanctions, how can you combat extremism and anti-Semitism? Moreover, this decision serves to protect Jobbik from critical debate in the advance of next year’s elections. Why?

Other new measures further stifle free speech.

Unfortunately, and somewhat shockingly, last month Hungary amended its defamation law to allow for the imposition of prison terms up to 3 years.

The imposition of jail time for speech offenses was a hallmark of the communist era. During the post-communist transition, the Helsinki Commission consistently urged OSCE countries to repeal criminal defamation and insult laws entirely. In 2004, for example, the Helsinki Commission wrote to Minister of Justice Peter Barandy regarding the criminal convictions of Andras Bencsik and Laszlo Attila Bertok.

This new law, raced through under an expedited procedure in the wake of a bi-election controversy in which allegations of voter manipulation were traded, was quickly criticized by the OSCE representative on Freedom of the Media. I share her concerns that these changes to the criminal code may lead to the silencing of critical or differing views in society and are inconsistent with OSCE commitments.

Hungary was once held up as a model of peaceful democratic transition and is situated in a region of Europe where the beacon of freedom is still sought by many today. I hope Hungary will return to a leadership role in the protection of human rights and the promotion of democracy. 

Category
Country
Issue
Date
Filter Topics Open Close
In the News

Bipartisan House members push Biden to allow Poland ...

Oct 30, 2024

In the News

US Weighs NATO Ally’s Offer To Shoot Down Russ...

Nov 01, 2024

screen-reader-text
In the News

Bipartisan report urges rethink of America’s Russia ...

Sep 28, 2024

screen-reader-text
In the News

Wilson Talks Russia Strategy

Oct 02, 2024

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Chairman Wilson Issues Statement on Government Raids...

Oct 25, 2024

WASHINGTON—Today, US Helsinki Commission Chairman Joe Wilson (SC-02), issued the following statement regarding the government raids on the homes of the two Tbilisi, Georgia-based researchers with the US-based Atlantic Council: “It […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Senator Roger Wicker Appointed Chairman of the U.S. ...

Feb 12, 2025

WASHINGTON—The Presiding Officer, on behalf of the Vice President, last week announced the appointment of U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., as chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in […]

screen-reader-text
In the News

Congressman Steve Cohen: ‘Ivanishvili is steer...

Jan 13, 2025

screen-reader-text
In the News

Helsinki Commission Leaders Reintroduce MEGOBARI Act...

Jan 04, 2025

screen-reader-text
In the News

Bipartisan lawmakers renew push for legislation supp...

Jan 03, 2025

screen-reader-text
In the News

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe...

Jan 01, 2025

screen-reader-text
In the News

Helsinki Commission Report on the war against NATO f...

Dec 31, 2024

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

NEW REPORT—Spotlight on the Shadow War: Inside Russi...

Dec 12, 2024

WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Helsinki Commission staff published a new report entitled, “Spotlight on the Shadow War: Inside Russia’s Attacks on NATO Territory.” Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, […]

screen-reader-text
Publications

Spotlight on the Shadow War: Inside Russia’s A...

Dec 12, 2024

Executive Summary: Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian sabotage campaigns across North America and Europe have accelerated. Calculated campaigns of hybrid warfare show that Russia’s antagonistic […]

screen-reader-text
Statements

Chairman Wilson on the 30th Anniversary of the Budap...

Dec 05, 2024

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Representative Joe Wilson (SC-02) issued the following statement on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum: “Thirty years ago, Ukraine, the United […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

HEARING – The Role of Belarus in Russia’s Crimes

Dec 05, 2024

Rayburn House Office Building 2118 Stream live here   Under the 30-year dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus has become one of the most isolated and dangerous countries in Europe. Lukashenka […]

screen-reader-text
Hearings

The Role of Belarus in Russia’s Crimes

Dec 05, 2024

Under the 30-year dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus has become one of the most isolated and dangerous countries in Europe. Lukashenka and his regime have destroyed and uprooted many lives—jailing […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Chairman Wilson and Ranking Member Cohen Condemn Rus...

Dec 05, 2024

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Representative Joe Wilson (SC-02) and Ranking Member Representative Steve Cohen (TN-09) issued the following statement condemning Russia’s malign interference in the Romanian presidential election, the second round of which is scheduled […]

screen-reader-text