With the cases of Tiborcz and Beton.Hofi, the American report shows that the Hungarian human rights situation is deteriorating

The Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Law of the US State Department also published its country reports in 2024, which also analyze the enforcement of human rights in the case of Hungary in the light of last year. The publication of the report was published by Hvg.hu, which goes through a long article, exactly what they are satisfied with and what they are dissatisfied with across the ocean.

In the summary, the human rights situation worsened in Hungary during the year. The homophobic Child Protection Act of 2021 limited access to LGBTQ-related written materials, and there are even reports of the removal of an unnamed museum director due to a relevant photo (this is related to what happened at the World Press Photo exhibition held at the Hungarian National Museum, as well as L. Simon refers to the dismissal of Director László).

In addition, the government, with the help of the secret services and the media controlled by the government, attacked those civil organizations and media that also receive foreign support. These are then presented as threats to the country’s sovereignty. This is embedded in the sovereignty protection law passed in December, which gives the government extra power to investigate NGOs that “influence democratic debate and decision-making processes.”

The American report also addresses topics such as the independence of the judiciary, arbitrary and unlawful interference in private life, and serious restrictions on freedom of speech and the media. Censorship is also mentioned, highlighting the story of Beton.Hofi, whose lines criticizing Viktor Orbán were censored on the M2 Petőfi TV concert recording. They mention restrictions on the freedom of assembly and association, serious government corruption, harassment of human rights organizations, threats against the Roma community, anti-Semitic acts, and atrocities against LGBTQ people.

The curtailment of the right to strike, the treatment of refugees, the unequal value of votes and the terrain sloping towards the government side in the elections, the issue of governance by decree was also not left out of the report. They also add:

“The government has taken credible steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses, although action against high-level politically connected corruption has been negligible.”

The report covers more specific cases and persons. This is the case, for example, with the Schadl-Völner case, the latest court developments of which you can read here. In the corruption section, they do not miss how many EU-supported public procurements have been won by business circles close to the government in recent years, and István Tiborcz, the successful businessman son-in-law of the prime minister, is also mentioned as an example.

The report is at least optimistic that there are no political murders, political prisoners and torture in Hungary. They don’t miss the fact that there are police excesses, and the prisons are overcrowded. They point out that it is difficult for the independent press to access the heads of the state apparatus, which Telex also regularly experiences. Although the state does not use physical violence against journalists, it regularly accuses newspapers and individuals of spreading fake news, and also uses the name of the independent press as dollar media.