Report on Human Rights Practices Country of Hungary
- ISBN-10
- 1481840134
- ISBN-13
- 9781481840132
- Pages
- 48
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012-12-25
- Author
- U. S. Department of State
Description
Hungary is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral National Assembly (parliament). The parliament elects the president (the head of state) every five years. The president appoints a prime minister from the majority party or coalition following a two-round national election every four years. The last parliamentary elections in April 2010 were assessed as free and fair. The conservative Fidesz-Christian Democrat (KDNP) coalition won a two-thirds majority. Fidesz's prime ministerial candidate, Viktor Orban, took office in May 2010. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. Among the most important human rights problems during the year were societal discrimination and exclusion of the Romani population and violent right-wing extremism. Discrimination against Roma exacerbated their already limited access to education, employment, health care, and social services. Right-wing extremism, including public campaigns by paramilitaries to intimidate and incite hatred against Roma and other minorities, increased. Also the government began implementing a new law that restricts media freedom by increasing government influence over the media in general. The government also adopted a new Fundamental Law to replace the 1949 constitution, as well as more than 20 cardinal laws. New laws concerning the judicial system, religious organizations, and media freedom gave rise to concerns that the new legislation could undermine the country's democratic institutions by removing key checks and balances. The Fundamental Law and most cardinal laws were to come in to force on January 1, 2012. Other human rights problems during the year included police use of excessive force against suspects, particularly Roma; new restrictions on due process; new laws that caused concerns over the broad powers of the media regulatory authority, which could encourage self-censorship; government corruption; questionable layoffs of state media employees; societal violence against women and children; sexual harassment of women; anti-Semitism; trafficking in persons; and the adoption of laws that weakened the labor rights of civil servants.
