Covering events from January - December 2002

REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY
Head of state: Ferenc Mádl
Head of government: Peter Medgyessy (replaced Viktor Orbán in July)
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
International Criminal Court: ratified

There was continued concern about the ill-treatment of detainees by police. Some of the victims were Roma. New regulations concerning asylum-seekers further undermined their rights and protection.

Ill-treatment

Police ill-treatment, including of Roma, continued to be reported.

  • In November, in the hospital in Gyöngyös, about 40 Roma who were mourning the death of a family member were reportedly assaulted by six police officers, one of whom said: "I will shoot all of you, filthy gypsies." Women with children were reportedly indiscriminately pushed down three flights of stairs. A son of the deceased was reportedly handcuffed to a door and beaten with a truncheon. Five men were subsequently taken into custody and charged with assaulting the police officers. The local police chief justified the use of force, reportedly stating that it was necessary to "break the resistance of the Roma" whose conduct in the hospital was considered as disturbing the peace.
UN Human Rights Committee

In April the Human Rights Committee, reviewing Hungary's fourth periodic report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, expressed concern that Hungary had no comprehensive legislative provision against discrimination. The Committee was also concerned about general discrimination against Roma as well as "the excessively high number of Roma in prisons, reports of their ill-treatment in police custody and the continuing existence of separate schools". It expressed concern both at the length of initial investigative detention of up to 72 hours, and the difficulties experienced by detainees in contacting their families and obtaining access to a lawyer, especially if they could not afford to engage one. Furthermore, the Committee was deeply concerned about detention on police premises and the high risk of ill-treatment which it entails; the high number of reports of ill-treatment by law enforcement agencies; the limited number of investigations carried out in such cases; and the very limited number of convictions in those cases which were investigated.

The Committee recommended that the Hungarian government take steps to enact comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and strengthen measures for improving the situation of the Roma. It called on Hungary to revise provisions of the new Criminal Procedure Act in order to reduce the maximum permitted detention in police stations to 48 hours or less. It further recommended that the authorities bring to the attention of judges the particular risk of ill-treatment on police premises, and take appropriate measures to ensure respect for detainees' rights to contact their families and obtain legal assistance. The Committee also called for the creation of an independent system for the investigation of complaints of abuses by law enforcement officials.

Asylum-seekers

New regulations concerning asylum-seekers and other foreign nationals came into force in January, creating even more restrictive conditions for asylum-seekers. Decisions on asylum applications are taken in the first and second instance within an office, established in the Ministry of the Interior, which is perceived as enjoying little independence. The same office is also responsible for policing foreigners and this responsibility takes precedence over the responsibility to process asylum applications. Thus, an asylum-seeker who has promptly and voluntarily approached the authorities, but who has entered the country illegally, could be issued with an order for their expulsion on the grounds of illegal entry, even though their deportation cannot be implemented because their case for asylum has not been considered. The asylum-seeker can then be detained for up to a year, pending deportation.

The new regulations also mean that the police responsible for dealing with foreign nationals are no longer required to request a so-called "expert opinion" from the authorities responsible for refugee matters before issuing the order to forcibly return (refoulement) an asylum-seeker detained at the border or who has voluntarily reported to the authorities. As a result, in the first few months after the new regulations entered into force, asylum-seekers were threatened with refoulement to the countries from which they fled, including Iraq. The decisions of the authorities on whether or not to forcibly return an asylum-seeker appear to be based not on an assessment of the potential risk to the individual concerned, but rather on internal general guidelines concerning particular countries, contrary to international law.

It also became even more difficult for asylum-seekers placed in detention to contact a legal representative following a ministerial decree permitting detainees to maintain contact only with legal representatives already in possession of at least an oral authorization. In September lawyers working for the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a local human rights organization, were given limited access to prisons where asylum-seekers could request their counsel.

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