Hungarian Civil Liberties Union

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is a human rights NGO. Since our foundation in 1994, we have been working for everybody being informed about their fundamental human rights and empowered to enforce it against the undue interference by those in position of public power.

our focus areas & news

Supreme Court Decision – Data on Budapest’s CCTV Is to Be Made Public

The important lesson in this case is that even though hundreds of cameras are monitoring our lives day and night, the police still do not have any evidence backing up the effectiveness of the CCTV in crime prevention. At least the Supreme Court, in it’s decision, has given back a piece of our right to personal privacy by making public when and where CCTVs are watching, thus we will be less at the mercy of those watching us. On the basis of public interest data, it will be easier to judge the price we have to pay for the promise of public safety.

The HCLU's Opinion on the Data Access Bill

The Ministry of Finance has sent the HCLU the drafts for disclaimer of opinion, which would form the legal confines of how personal data registered in state databases, after anonimization can be used for research.

The Agreement Between the Hungarian Tax and Financial Control Administration (APEH) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) Has to

On Friday the HCLU have called upon the APEH to make public the cooperation agreement with BSA on the grounds of public interest data. The document was made accessible on the internet, even though previously the APEH stated that ’by unwritten law, such documents contain an obligation of secrecy, thus the original text will not be made public on the APEH’s webpage’.

Disgraceful Letter from Deputy Ombudsman

Albert Takács, Deputy Ombudsman of the Parliament has rejected the complaint of the HCLU's attorney in the matter of special healthcare for autists. The HCLU voices its outrage over the letter.

HCLU Wins Lawsuit Against the Forensic Institute for the Observation and Treatment of the Mentally Ill (FIOTM)

As we have reported, a client represented by the HCLU has recently started prodeedings against the Forensic Institute for the Observation and Treatment of the Mentally Ill (FIOTM), to have the courts determine: the FIOTM has violated his personal rights, when they placed him in an institution without a non-smoking ward and subjected him to unnecessary therapy.

The HCLU Wins 100 Billion Lawsuit

In September, 2006 the HCLU has sued the Ministry of Finance for denying to make public the information relating to the 100 billion forint deficit in the 2006 budget. Last October the Metropolitan Court has ruled in favor of the HCLU and in it's first instance decision has declared the requested data to be of public-interest.