News

For the seventh year in a row, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is contributing to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report in coordination with other Hungarian human rights and anti-corruption CSOs in the framework of the stakeholder consultation launched by the European Commission.

The Hungarian Government uses its power arbitrarily to discourage people from attending the Pécs Pride in 2025. According to an amendment adopted by the Parliament, attending Pride will be considered a petty offence. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) and the Streetlawyer Association (Utcajogász) teamed up to answer your questions. Most importantly, the more people attend Pride, the less risky it becomes for everyone. Our Q&A will help you prepare for possible outcomes, and if proceedings are initiated against you, you can count on us! The answers below are based on the status of the relevant legislation as of 12th September, 2025. Download the Q&A here!

Civil society organisations warn that the functioning of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, the country’s national human rights institution, continues to fall short of international standards, failing to protect human rights and vulnerable communities. They remind that the new Commissioner, who will have to be nominated shortly, should be selected in a transparent and merit-based procedure.

In a ruling delivered on 10 June 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that Hungarian authorities had violated the rights of a Romani family by forcibly separating a mother from her newborn son immediately after birth without sufficient legal or social justification. The case, B.T. and B.K.Cs v. Hungary was brought before the Court by the affected parents with joint legal support from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). The ruling highlights the flaws in the Hungarian child protection system, which continues to disproportionately target Romani families.

The Hungarian Government uses its power arbitrarily to discourage people from attending the Budapest Pride in 2025. According to an amendment adopted by the Parliament, attending Pride will be considered a petty offence. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) and the Streetlawyer Association (Utcajogász) teamed up to answer your questions. Most importantly, the more people attend Pride, the less risky it becomes for everyone. Our Q&A will help you prepare for possible outcomes, and if proceedings are initiated against you, you can count on us!

This blog post is a legal analysis of new legislation in Hungary that uses facial recognition technology in a manner that violates the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

Following the Prime Minister’s statement concerning the banning of the annual Pride, MPs of the governing majority submitted a set of amendments to the Fundamental Law (Hungary’s constitution) on 11 March to create a constitutional-level basis for such action. On 18 March, another bill was submitted by MPs of the governing majority amending laws to ban assemblies that might breach the “substantial element of the prohibition” prescribed in the infamous anti-LGBTQI Propaganda-Law and impose harsh financial penalties for participants of such events. The bill was forced through Parliament within a day and will enter into force on 15 April 2025.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, together with three other human rights organisations – Data Rights France working at the EU level, the Greek organisation Homo Digitalis, and the Spanish (Catalan) organisation Irídia – has intervened in the case of Brejza v. Poland, currently before the European Court of Human Rights. These organisations are connected by the fact that they all operate in countries where the Pegasus spyware has been misused to surveil political opponents, journalists, and human rights defenders. Their intervention aims to present the Court with the serious human rights consequences of spyware abuse and to assist in establishing appropriate legal standards.