We consider it important to highlight the following to our followers and partners concerning the article just published in the Hungarian propaganda media, which seeks to discredit a member of our staff and independent journalism.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is taking legal action on behalf of six of its clients before the Hungarian authorities, the European Commission, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and in Israel. The organisation aims to expose the practice of unlawful secret surveillance, to have international fora declare that the Hungarian regulation of secret information gathering violates fundamental rights and to prevent politically motivated abuses.

The Equality Project of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union works for the legal protection of the most vulnerable minority groups in Hungary, including the fight against the systemic discrimination of Roma people.

On September 2nd, 2021 the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights has rejected our plea representing Andrea Giuliano, a gay rights activist. The Strasbourg court has therefore missed an opportunity to improve its case law on hate crimes against vulnerable group members.

In September 2020, K-Monitor and the HCLU launched a joint corruption monitoring program with the goal to evaluate the status of state corruption and the efforts made towards the dismantling of the rule of law in a report published every three months.

The platforms are mostly criticized because of deletion of comments and disabling profiles, but the main problem is that the users cannot check up on the background of the decision affecting them.

Eight Hungarian NGOs submitted a joint contribution in the stakeholder consultation launched by the European Commission for its second annual Rule of Law Report. The Commission’s Rule of Law Report pertaining to 2019 identified substantial problems severely threatening the rule of law in Hungary in all four areas examined. According to the NGOs, the situation has deteriorated further in 2020. They trust that in this year’s report, the Commission will make concrete, enforceable recommendations to EU Member States, hence also for Hungary on how to advance rule of law in the EU.

In the year 2020, the epidemic and the ensuing restrictions further amplified the past difficulties of the most vulnerable and underprivileged sections of Hungarian society, and now more than ever they seem to be on the losing side of the current situation. In addition to this, the coronavirus has more severe consequences for those living in poverty. The Hungarian government should pay special attention to these people, and targeted measures must be taken to prevent further serious losses. Nevertheless there are no special measures taking place, during this time of the epidemic the government forgets about this strata of society just as much as it did before.

The Metropolitan Court of Budapest dismissed the action brought by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) on behalf of Klubrádió against the decision of the media authority to silence the radio station without giving detailed reasons.

Increasingly, and almost always without social debate, facial recognition systems are being used by states to monitor and track their citizens. Inadequate regulation violates fundamental rights, while technological inaccuracies reinforce discrimination. On Data Protection Day, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) published its report summarising international experiences, in cooperation with the HCLU - as the problem also affects Hungary.