Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán
Minister of Interior, Sándor Pintér
Minister of State for Social Inclusion, Zoltán Balog
Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Minority, Civic and Religious Affairs Chairman, Tamás Lukács
Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Security Chairman, Máté Kocsis
Member of Parliament, Ágnes Osztolykán
Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minorities, Ernő Kállai
Dear Excellencies,
The European Roma Rights Centre, Chance for Children Foundation, Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU-TASZ), the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities are writing to urge your prompt reaction to the patrols of Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future) paramilitary organisation in Hajdúhadház, organised from 12 April 2011.
About 180 representatives of Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület began conducting patrols on 12 April 2011 around Hajdúhadház, where one quarter of the over 12,000 residents are Romani. Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület have reportedly been patrolling in groups of 8-10 persons, clad in black military clothing, intimidating the Romani residents and filming them in their homes and gardens. They announced their intention to stay for at least two weeks and reportedly plan several demonstrations. Their current activities appear to be similar to the intimidation and harrassment that they inflicted on Roma in Gyöngyöspata from 1-16 March, unimpeded by the police.
The submitting organisations have previously expressed their concerns about Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület, which is effectively a paramilitary group, listing its aims as preventing crime, protecting citizens and safeguarding public safety. Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület is linked to the Magyar Nemzeti Gárda (with the same aims and leadership as the banned Magyar Gárda) and the far-right political party Jobbik, whose inflammatory rhetoric about “Gypsy crime” contributes to inter-ethnic tension and risks provoking violence. A legal briefing prepared by HCLU-TASZ based on research in Gyöngyöspata outlines several provisions of the Hungarian criminal code that the Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület’s activities appear to have violated: (art. 174/B Violence Against a Member of a Community, art. 176/A Harassment and art. 271 Public Nuisance), while the inactivity of the police raises concerns under legal provisions related to abuse of authority and disciplinary responsibility.
The Hungarian Constitution guarantees the right to liberty and personal security, while Hungary is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to ensure that all citizens can exercise their rights to liberty, security of the person and private and family life.
Recalling the 8 April statement of Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Balog that “Nobody can assume the role of keeping the peace or act as a substitute for the police”, the European Roma Rights Centre, Chance for Children Foundation, Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities urge Hungarian authorities to swiftly condemn anti-Roma violence and intimidation by Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület. We also urge Hungarian competent authorities to instruct Hungarian police to swiftly intervene to prevent and investigate any actions in violation of Hungarian law.
Sincerely,
Robert Kushen, Executive Director - European Roma Rights Centre
Erzsebet Mohacsi, President - Chance for Children Foundation
Orsolya Jeney, Director - Amnesty International Hungary
Balázs Dénes, Executive Director -Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
András Kádár , Co-chair - Hungarian Helsinki Committee
Erika Muhi, Director - Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities
CC:
European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding
European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor
Head of the Roma Taskforce and European Commission Director-General for Justice, Françoise Le Bail
President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek
MEP, Lívia Járóka
MEP, Kinga Göncz
MEP, Renate Weber
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg
Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland
Special representative for Roma Issues to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jeroen Schokkenbroek
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebaek
OSCE/ODIHR Senior Advisor on Roma and Sinti Issues, Andrzej Mirga
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Director, Morten Kjærum
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance Chair, Nils Muiznieks
In their current, third analysis on the legislative work of the Hungarian Parliament, the Eötvös Károly Policy Institute, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) examine whether the constitution-making process in Hungary meets the requirements deriving from the principle of the rule of law and compares the draft “Fundamental Law” (i.e. the draft of the new Constitution) submitted to the Parliament on 14 March 2011 with the present constitutional system.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) request the Constitutional Court to annul Act XVI of 2011 on the redress of the verdicts in connection with the crowd controls in the autumn of 2006 in a joint petition. According to the human rights organizations the act severely violates the rule of law and juridical independence.
Seven civil society organizations, including HCLU, submitted an opinion on the latest version of the government decree regulating home births prepared by the Ministry of National Resources.
The bill submitted by István Balsai Member of the Parliament would like to achieve the rehabilitation of those convicted based on evidence given by the police following the protests of 2006.
In pursuance of the decision of the Municipal Court of Tatabánya, the indirectly state-owned Vértesi Power Plant Co. is obliged to hand over its contracts with System Consulting Co. from 2008, the documents of the internal inquisition carried out in the case of privatization and power trading of System Consulting Co., substantiating the damage suits and criminal accusation of Vértesi Power Plant in the spring of 2009, and the figures in connection with the costs of the internal inquisition to Tamás Bodoky, journalist, represented by HCLU.
The Metropolitan Court granted the appeal of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and overruled the prohibiting decision of the police. Thus the participants of the Budapest Pride can march from Heroes’ Square to Kossuth Square in 2011.
The HCLU wrote a letter to Neelie Kroes to express our grave concern about the amendment proposed to the Hungarian Press and Media Act and the Media Services and Mass Media Act by the Hungarian government which it has been said is supported by Commissioner Kroes.
On the 15th of February 2011, a group of European and Hungarian Romani and non-Romani organisations sent a letter to the Hungarian government, currently holding the EU presidency, and the European Commission, appealing for open consultation with NGOs on EU Roma policy related initiatives.
In 2010 HCLU produced 127 videos. There are 91 foreign language (English or Russian) and 36 Hungarian language videos. Besides drug policy, we produced many interesting films in the fields of HIV/AIDS and human rights, disability rights, freedom of speech and freedom of information, and within the framework of the HCLU's roma program on the issues of roma rights. All our films from 2010 are available from this picture illustrated portfolio.
The census is an event of utmost importance for Hungarian society due to its significance for long-term planning of social policies. However, the census is also an event which deeply affects the constitutional right of data protection. As everyone will be counted in October 2011, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union drew up some critical observations from the perspective of data protection.