Dear Member of the Parliamentary Assembly,
On 21 May Hungary took the Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers amidst a serious national human rights, democracy and rule of law crisis which has no end in sight. Amnesty International would like to draw your attention to the human rights situation in Hungary and raise concerns about recent developments and a series of laws adopted in the last few years which curtail the enjoyment of human rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Such legislation has introduced new limits to the rights to family life, privacy, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, assembly and association. Moreover, it has further restricted the independence of the judiciary and undermined the rule of law. Finally, the laws introduced in the last years fail to address gender-based discrimination and guarantee gender equality in the workplace, and fail to protect women’s rights, the rights of the Roma, refugees and asylum-seekers.