5.4.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 125/475 Thursday 15 September 2022
BY. whereas the adoption of the new law was not preceded by a public consultation of any kind and neither were NGOs directly consulted, in contradiction of the Venice Commission’s recommendation from its opinion of 20 June 2017 that the public consultation should involve, as far as possible, all civil society organisations whose status, financing or spheres of operation would be affected as a result of the entry into force of the legislation; whereas according to the new law, these organisations can now be subjected to regular financial inspections by the State Audit Office; whereas civil society organisations are concerned that the State Audit Office, whose main function is to monitor the use of public funds — not private donations — will be used to put more pressure on them; whereas civil society organisations have warned that with the new NGO law, the state will interfere with the autonomy of association of organisations established on the basis of the right of association and the privacy of citizens who stand up for the public interest, and that the law is detrimental to the exercise of freedom of expression and the democratic public as a whole; whereas the State Audit Office began checks on dozens of NGOs on 17 May 2022, asking for their accounting and cash management policies;
BZ. whereas on 23 July 2021, it was announced that no agreement had been reached by the donor states of the European Economic Area and Norway Grants — Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — on the appointment of a fund operator to manage the funding for civil society in Hungary; whereas as a result, no programmes will be implemented during the current funding period, nullifying the EUR 214,6 million in funding that had been set aside for Hungary;
CA. whereas in their joint opinion of 17 December 2018 on Section 253 of Act XLI of 20 July 2018 amending certain tax laws and other related laws, and on the special immigration tax, the Venice Commission and the OSCE ODIHR stated that the 25 % tax on financial support to an immigration-supporting activity carried out in Hungary or on the financial support to the operations of an organisation with a seat in Hungary that carries out immigration-supporting activity does not meet the requirement of legality and constitutes an unjustified interference with the rights to freedom of expression and of association of the NGOs affected;
CB. whereas in her report of 21 May 2019 following a visit to Hungary from 4 to 8 February 2019, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe stressed that the legislative measures had stigmatised and criminalised civil society activities which should be considered fully legitimate in a democratic society, and exercise a continuous chilling effect on NGOs, while noting that some of the legal provisions are exceptionally vague, arbitrary and not implemented in practice;
CC. whereas in his report of 11 May 2020 following a visit to Hungary from 10 to 17 July 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants observed that civil society organisations working on the rights of migrants in Hungary had experienced multiple obstacles in carrying out their legitimate and important work as a consequence of legislative amendments, financial restrictions and other operational and practical measures taken by the relevant authorities; whereas the UN Special Rapporteur also noted that a number of civil society organisations had been subjected to smear campaigns, in some cases followed by administrative or criminal investigations;
The right to equal treatment, including LGBTIQ rights
CD. whereas on 13 July 2022, the Commission indicated in the country chapter on Hungary of the 2022 Rule of Law Report that the Hungarian Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has gained more competences, but his accreditation was downgraded following concerns regarding his independence; whereas in the report and recommendations of the virtual session of its Sub-Committee on Accreditation held from 14 to 25 March 2022, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions recommended that the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights be downgraded to B status, as the subcommittee had not received the written evidence necessary to establish that the Commissioner was effectively carrying out their mandate in relation to vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTIQ people, human rights defenders, refugees and migrants, or in relation to important human rights issues such as media pluralism, civic space and judicial independence; whereas the sub-committee took the view that the Commissioner was acting in a way that seriously compromised compliance with the Paris Principles on the criteria of standards for national human rights institutions; whereas the subcommittee also noted issues with the selection and appointment process and with working relationships and cooperation with civil society organisations and human rights defenders;