In signing the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, European and North American governments committed themselves to the respect of human rights, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and the free flow of information. In 1976 a group of human rights activists, calling themselves the Moscow Helsinki Group, attempted to exercise rights that the Soviet government had committed itself to respecting. The activists were imprisoned and sentenced to forced labour.
However, all across Central and Eastern Europe, including Hungary, individuals referring to Helsinki began to exercise their human rights in defence of the belief that people indeed have inalienable human rights regardless of what the law says.
It was in this spirit that the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights was founded in 1983. Its first impressive event was held in Budapest twenty years ago in October 1985.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee was established in 1989. It started is permanent activities ten years ago towards the end of 1994. Since then, the HHC has been monitoring how effectively rights that are ensured by domestic law can be exercised, and it has been evaluating whether Hungarian legislation guarantees the rights that it should with respect to international treaties and general principles of human rights. Are persons who flee persecution and seek protection in Hungary able to exercise these rights? Are persons who differ from the majority due to the colour of their skin or another trait able to assert these rights? Are these rights observed in police jails and prisons? For over ten years, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has been analyzing and - if justified - criticizing legislation and legal practice and making efforts to influence the legislative process to ensure that domestic law fully respects human rights principles. For over ten years, the HHC has been providing legal assistance to those whose human rights were violated by public authorities responsible for ensuring the exercise of human rights.
Exercising one's human rights was nearly the sole form of autonomous political activity twenty years ago. Raising our voice for human rights remains political even today. Fortunately, however, winning and losing votes is not the issue for human rights defenders. The only thing they have to keep in mind is Thomas Jefferson's more than two-hundred-year-old idea: "Nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and inalienable rights of man."
Ferenc Kőszeg
President, Hungarian Helsinki Committee
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee monitors the enforcement in Hungary of human rights enshrined in international human rights instruments, it provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses by state authorities and it informs the public about rights violations. The HHC strives to ensure that domestic legislation guarantees the consistent implementation of human rights norms. The HHC promotes legal education and training in fields relevant to its activities, both in Hungary and abroad.
The HHC's main activities focus on protecting the rights of asylum seekers and foreigners in need of international protection, as well as on monitoring the human rights performance of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system. It pays particularly attention to detention conditions as well as the effective enforcement of the right to defence and equality before the law.
The Human Rights Legal Counselling Office provides free legal assistance in human rights violation cases that fall under the scope of the organization's activities. Legal assistance is given in both domestic and international proceedings (e.g. the European Court of Human Rights). The forms of available legal assistance range from verbal advice to drafting legal documents and legal representation before authorities and courts. The majority of cases concern police mistreatment, complaints relating to detention, as well as immigration, family unification and asylum cases.
Main achievements:
- Since 1995 the Office has provided legal assistance in an average of 500 cases per year.
- Since 1998 more than 3,300 clients have been given free legal assistance in human rights cases.
- In the last two years, the HHC has provided free legal representation to foreign nationals (including ethnic Hungarians from the neighbouring countries) in over 60 cases to ensure that our clients can stay in Hungary with their Hungarian national family members.
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- The HHC raises public attention to human rights violations by generating media coverage for special cases and phenomena.
- Through reports and legal analysis, the HHC advocates for changes in legislation and legal practice in order to prevent future rights violations.
The quality of treatment of detainees and respect for their human rights is one of the most important indicators of how civilized a society is.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee began human rights monitoring of police jails in 1996 in pursuit of a cooperation agreement concluded with the National Police Headquarters. Monitoring teams of attorneys, doctors and sociologists are entitled to enter any police building in the country where persons can be detained at any time of day without having to give advance notice. They observe the physical conditions of detention and may speak with detainees without supervision. Should the human rights monitors find any concerns or irregularities, the HHC notifies the police unit in charge of the jail, the National Police Headquarters or the prosecutor's office immediately.
Following a cooperation agreement concluded with the National Prison Administration and based on the success of monitoring police jails, the HHC also began carrying out human rights monitoring in prisons in 2000.
Main achievements:
The regular human rights monitoring of closed institutions (which previously were not transparent to civil society) has brought about a number of achievements:
- The HHC published three comprehensive reports: one on the treatment of pre-trial detainees, one on convicted prisoners and one on prison conditions.
- Since 2000 a total of 786 visits have been made to police jails and 50 visits to prisons.
- Legal assistance has been provided to 1,200 detainees in detention related complaints.
- Our human rights monitoring program has contributed to improving the treatment of detainees and physical conditions of detention.
- The human rights monitoring activity has contributed to making the functioning of detention facilities more transparent.
Ensuring one's rights must not remain the privilege of those who can afford to hire a lawyer. Hence the Hungarian Helsinki Committee advocates for securing high-quality and accessible state-funded legal aid for the disadvantaged and it promotes improving the overall quality of the legal aid system. In the interest of improving access to justice in Hungary, the HHC analyzes and evaluates the current situation and makes legislative and structural recommendations.
Main achievements:
- The Model Legal Aid Board Program substantially contributes to laying the foundations for criminal legal aid reform and ensuring wide-ranging support for an effective state-funded legal defence system.
- At the request of the Ministry of Justice, the HHC makes recommendations concerning the establishment and further improvement of legislation on the state-funded legal aid scheme.
- Our advocacy activities resulted in ensuring that non-governmental organizations and university-based legal clinics are able to register as legal aid providers.
The principle of respecting the right to asylum and the obligation of protecting refugees is enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments that form an integral part of European civilization.
As of 1998 the Hungarian Helsinki Committee is an implementing partner of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The HHC coordinates a national network of asylum lawyers who provide free legal assistance to asylum seekers in Hungary. The organization regularly visits reception centres and community shelters where asylum seekers and migrants are accommodated. It also comments on draft legislation in the field of asylum and immigration as well as analyses legal practices. In addition, the HHC provides legal advice and country of origin information to our network of asylum lawyers and organizes professional trainings on domestic, European and international asylum and immigration law and practice.
The refugee law clinic program based at law faculties in Budapest, Gyor and Debrecen provides law students with insight into Hungarian and international asylum law and its implementation, thus creating a pool of young professionals in Hungary who are trained in a highly complex and specialized legal field.
Main achievements:
- Since 1998 the HHC has provided free legal assistance to over 4,500 asylum seekers.
- The legal status of nearly 130 ethnic Hungarians who had fled Yugoslavia during the war was resolved by acquiring long-term residence status, which granted as a result of the HHC's intervention.
- HHC staff have been involved in over 30 refugee law trainings in Hungary or abroad, organized for Hungarian and foreign NGOs as well as for officials working in the field of refugee status determination, immigration or border control.
Legal Assistance through Refugee Clinics (LARC)
Legal Assistance through Refugee Clinics (LARC)
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is a project of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. It aims to strengthen the effective legal protection of refugees and asylum seekers in Central and Eastern Europe by building the capacity of refugee law clinics, their professionals, and students. To achieve this goal, LARC organizes skills development events and professional consultations as well as facilitates the network of 24 refugee law clinics in 11 countries in the region. The project was created in 2001 with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
LARC hosts Europe's only asylum law moot court: the Annual International Asylum Law Moot Court Competition. The event - organized since 2001 -aims to provide an opportunity for refugee law clinic students to practice their legal argumentation skills as well as to deepen their knowledge in international asylum law under the supervision of internationally acclaimed refugee experts.
LARC also publishes The Refugee Law Reader - the first-ever online curriculum for the study of the rapidly evolving field of international asylum and refugee law (www.refugeelawreader.org). The Reader is primarily aimed for the use of professors, lawyers, advocates and students across a wide range of national jurisdictions.
Main achievements:
- Since 2001 refugee law clinic students have provided free legal aid to over 10,000 asylum seekers and refugees.
- By October 2005, over twenty thousand people have visited The Refugee Law Reader website. The online publication has served as the basis for refugee law courses at over 20 universities in the region.
- Since the launch of the project, more than half of the refugee law clinic students have stayed in the asylum field after graduation.
The HHC is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), a self-governing group of non-governmental, not-forprofit organizations that act to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America and Central Asia. A primary specific goal of the IHF is to monitor compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its Follow-up Documents. Each year the HHC produces a report on the situation of human rights in Hungary as part of the IHF's annual report. The HHC is represented on the IHF Executive Committee in the 2004-2006 period.
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) is a pan-European network of refugee-assisting non-governmental organizations, concerned with the needs of all individuals seeking refuge and protection within Europe. The HHC gained membership in ECRE in 2002 and participates in ECRE activities on a regular basis by cooperating with other refugee assisting NGOs in Europe, reporting on refugee protection issues in Hungary, and taking part in activities promoting the rights and interests of refugees aiming at influencing refugee policies in Europe. The HHC is currently representing NGOs from the North Central Europe region in the ECRE Executive Committee.
The HHC regularly prepares alternative reports on Hungarian human rights issues for various committees of the United Nations and the Council of Europe that monitor the enforcement of human rights.
In recent years we have prepared reports for the
- UN Committee against Torture,
- UN Human Rights Committee,
- UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
- Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee,
- European Commission against Racism and Intolerance,
- Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, utilizing its many years of professional experience, provides the following services:
- training on asylum and immigration law for lawyers, social workers, judges and public servants,
- training on the legal regulation of anti-discrimination, and meeting the requirements of equal opportunity ruling for local governments, state institutions and corporations,
- counselling on the development of equal opportunity policy for corporations and organizations,
- planning and organizing human rights-related conferences and professional meetings,
- preparing comprehensive and thematic legal reports concerning the enforcement of human rights in Hungary,
- conducting human rights trainings for non-governmental organizations and youth groups. ■
Visszaugrás
