Protect Freedom in Hungary!

The Unlawful NGO Act is bound to fail.

In the last couple of months the government and the ruling party increased the intensity of their anti-NGO communication and on June 13the Hungarian Parliament adopted the Law on the Transparency of Foreign Funded Organisations.

Similar laws were adopted in Russia and Israel in the disguise of transparency, which aim at silencing NGOs providing critical services and monitoring government’s human rights track record. The now adopted Hungarian NGO Act is a carbon-copy of Russia’s foreign agent law. In Russia, that law was followed by multiple amendments restricting the activities of NGOs and resulting in 27 organizations closing down since the law was adopted.

HCLU decided to denounce the unlawful NGO Act, even in its final version. The bill should not have been adopted, as it violates fundamental rights. We believe that the most effective way of acting against the unlawful provisions is not to abide the law. Multiple legal remedies opens up for us only if we do not comply with the requirements of the unlawful act. Unwilling to give up on any means of redress, we have decided not to fulfil the requirements of the unlawful act.

We’re here to stay and to continue our work.

Beside the hostile environment and the continuous negative campaign against our work, we continue working for our mission: we strive to educate citizens about their basic human rights and freedoms, and take stand against undue interference and misuse of power by those in positions of authority. Check out the projects and successes we had in the previous months:

• Our campaign called Missing Memories won the Hungarian Civil Award ‘17. The campaign aimed at preventing and raising awareness of the discriminatory practice of the child protection authorities against families most in need. During the campaign HCLU helped families that have been torn apart unlawfully to get their children back from foster parents or foster homes.
• The prosecution discontinued its investigation against our client, whistle-blower and former officer of the National Tax and Customs Administration. He gave a whistleblowing notification based on documents that can prove massive and organized VAT evasion and corruption among multinational enterprises with the assistance of the tax authority. He was charged alleging abuse of private data, the charges were dropped due to the legal assistance HCLU provided.  
• Our "I have a child with me" campaign, launched in April 2015, will continue with the now-received support from a private donor, MagNet Bank. The campaign aims to ensure that every hospital in Hungary enables parents of ill children to stay with them during their recovery, even for several nights in a row. We research the hospitals’ practices, we organize trainings for parents on their rights and introduce best practices to show that respecting their rights is just a matter of will.

Thank you for supporting us and for your help to protect freedom in Hungary!

Links:

• HCLU's Boycott: The Unlawful NGO Act is Bound to Fail
• Short Analysis of the Hungarian NGO Act