The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Independent Journalism, the Hungarian Europe Society, the Mertek Media Monitor and the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media, as signatories of the opinion on ’The Report of the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism: A free and pluralistic media to sustain European democracy’ are civil organizations with a long history of commitment to the freedoms of speech and press and extensive professional experience in this area.

The Hungarian government provided detailed comments on the so-called Tavares Report regarding the situation of fundamental rights in Hungary, which will soon be discussed by Members of the European Parliament. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) and the Standards (Mérték) Media Monitor responded to the government’s inaccurate and unfounded comments in an analysis submitted to the factions of the European Parliament.

According to the Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Constitutional Court’s decision to hear the President of the National Judicial Office behind closed doors undermines the transparency of decision-making by a public office, the right to freedom of information and the principle of fair trial.

The delegation of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, has visited Hungary with the mandate to reexamine and reevaluate the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary and its potential consequences.

Lawyers from HCLU are defending a number of young activists who have recently been charged for occupying the headquarters of the governing party, FIDESZ and for blocking traffic around the Hungarian Parliament. The response by the police to the demonstrations was meant to instill fear and to scare people away from similar acts in the future.

March 20, 2013 GENEVA – As the United Nation’s Human Rights Council prepares to debate a draft motion on social protest, human rights organizations from around the world have joined their voices to call on the UN to provide meaningful protection for this essential democratic right.

It is a further proof that the governing majority views the Fundamental Law as subservient to the raw force of power and not as a limit on exercising government power.It adds provisions to the Fundamental Law that the Constitutional Court had previously declared unconstitutional.It violates the right to free speech because it enables the oppression of opposing political views and artistic expression.It contradicts the right to human dignity because it opens the door for the State and local governments to criminalize homelessness instead of guaranteeing the right to adequate housing. It discriminates against same sex couples, couples without children and other non-marital forms of familial relationships by leaving them without constitutional protection.It curtails the right to freedom of information and the fundamental principles of free election because it enforces undue restrictions on the publication of campaign materials and other forms of political advertising.It sanctifies the autocratic differentiation between religious groups because Parliament can decide, according to its own will, on whether or not to recognize a church.It violates the principles of fair trial because it allows the head of the judiciary’s administrative body to designate a case to any court arbitrarily.It ends the autonomy of universities and colleges because it subordinates these institutions to the Government in matters pertaining to organization and financial management.By conditioning student aid on post-graduation domestic employment, it imposes disproportionate burdens on university and college students’ right to self-determination and their right to freely choose their occupation.

Instead of the law of rule we want rule of law!

Three Hungarian NGOs, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Eötvös Károly Institute and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union addressed the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Vice-President, Commissioner in Charge of Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship in order to raise their attention to the planned Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, threatening the rule of law. The NGOs asked the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to request the Venice Commission to perform an analysis of the proposed amendments.

Five companies have said they will no longer place advertising in a Hungarian newspaper that published extreme anti-Roma statements.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is joining with a coalition of Hungarian NGOs are calling on domestic companies and Hungarian divisions of multinationals to take a stand against hate speech in Hungary. The NGOS are asking, among others, Vodafone and T-Com, FEDEX, IKEA and Procter and Gamble to reconsider advertising in a Hungarian newspaper which published an article talking about Romani people in unacceptably racist and prejudiced language.

The HCLU agrees with the Constitutional Court's decision that pre-registration of voters residing in Hungary is an unnecessary legal restriction. In order to ensure universal and equal suffrage not only the relevant law, but the Fundamental Law of Hungary itself should also be reviewed.

Last year the Government introduced fundamental changes to the judicial system. Although 30 separate provisions of the relevant regulation were amended in response to the serious concerns raised by the Venice Commission (VC), the organization of the judicial system remains centralized and still endangers the independence of the judiciary and the fairness of court proceedings – according to the Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.