Advance questions:
- What measures are the Hungarian authorities taking to protect members of the Roma community against hate crime and violence, including to ensure that these crimes are effectively investigated? How is the government of Hungary working to prevent and combat discrimination, hate speech and racist rhetoric against the Roma population and other minority groups?
- The European committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT) has voiced its concern with overpopulated prisons in Hungary. A large amount of repetitive cases before the European Court of Human Rights concern the same issues. What is Hungary doing to address these concerns?
- Could you provide information on the steps taken by the government of Hungary to ensure freedom of expression and independent press, and how it has addressed the voiced concerns regarding the independence and impartiality of the Media Council?
- What is the government of Hungary doing to ensure that civil society organisations can operate freely and without discrimination or undue restriction?
- What is the Hungarian government doing to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are guaranteed their rights under the 1951 Refugee Convention, including asylum seekers’ right to appeal? How would you ensure that the standard in the reception centers for asylumseekers is on an adequate level to cover basic needs? How would you ensure that the basic needs of refugees, and other third country nationals who are granted some form of residence permit in Hungary, are covered? Are measures in place to meet the specific needs of vulnerable persons like single mothers or unaccompanied minors?
Statement:
Norway welcomes the Hungarian delegation and commends Hungary`s dedication to the UPR process.
Norway recommends that Hungary remove all administrative and legislative provisions that restrict the rights of Human Rights Defenders and ensure that civil society organizations can operate freely and without discrimination or undue restriction. Norway also recommends that Hungary take steps to ensure that civil society organizations freely can access and utilize funding, including from foreign sources.
Norway acknowledges the efforts of the Hungarian government to combat hate speech and hate crime, including tightening the House Rules on hate speech by MPs and the introduction of specialised hate crime training for the police and the judiciary. Norway recommends Hungary to strengthen measures to combat hate speech and hate crime.
Norway further recommends Hungary to continue the work to further social and economic integration of the Roma population, reduce direct and indirect school segregation of Roma children and actively promote Roma participation in society through education.
Finally, Norway recommends that the government take steps to ensure that detention of asylum-seekers is used only in exceptional cases, the procedure for detention is transparent and comprehensible, and that detainees have access to effective legal remedy.