On 25 June, the LIBE Committee will vote on Sargentini\u2019s report on a proposal calling on the Council to determine, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded.<\/p>\n
Hellenic League for Human Rigths co-signs the letter below to be\u00a0 addressed to the LIBE Members of the European Parliament urging them to attend the voting session on Monday 25th June,\u00a0 vote in favour of the report and hence show support to civil society, press freedom, academic freedom, the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and fundamental rights.<\/p>\n
————<\/p>\n
25 June 2018<\/p>\n
Dear MEP,<\/p>\n
On 20 June 2018, on the World Refugee Day, the Hungarian Parliament adopted two draft legislative packages:<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0Constitutional amendments limiting the judicial independence and restricting the freedom of judges to interpret the law<\/strong>. The new amendments provide that a new court that may be dominated by judges arriving from the state\u2019s public administration will rule on cases involving elections, taxes, and public procurement, among many other key issues. Its head will be a political appointee selected by Parliament. The subordination of the judiciary to both the executive and legislative powers deeply undermines the rule of law.<\/p>\n \u2013 A package of laws criminalising the work of NGOs who help asylum-seekers and migrants<\/strong>. The new legislation, which may come into force as early as 1 July, criminalizes a range of activities, including distributing information on migrationrelated matters, providing advice to migrants and refugees, and conducting human rights monitoring at borders. The authorities will be able to arrest, charge and immediately remove from Hungary\u2019s border area with non-Schengen countries any lawyer, adviser, volunteer or legally resident family member suspected of helping a person to make an asylum claim or obtain a residence permit, or of providing other legal or humanitarian assistance.<\/p>\n The latest developments in Hungary triggered immediate and strong reactions from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein and the Council of Europe through Yves Cruchten, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on new restrictions on NGO activities in Council of Europe member States. While Zeid stated that the \u201cParliament\u2019s decision is an attack on fundamental human rights and freedoms in Hungary. The constant stoking of hatred by the current Government for political On 25 June, the LIBE Committee will vote on Judith Sargentini\u2019s report on a proposal calling on the Council to determine, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is As Member of the LIBE Committee, we urge you to attend the voting session on Monday and vote in favour of the report. We urge you to show your support to civil society, press freedom, academic freedom, the independence of the judiciary, the rule of\u00a0<\/strong>law and fundamental rights.<\/strong><\/p>\n The changes introduced by Hungary\u2019s government are not a matter of national discretionary power: the European Union has to take a strong stance, as the UN and Council of Europe did. The European Union can no longer afford to lag behind and stay silent. Fundamental Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n Signatories<\/p>\n 1. AEDH \u2013 European Association for the Defence of Human Rights On 25 June, the LIBE Committee will vote on Sargentini\u2019s report on a proposal calling on the Council to determine, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4965,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964\/revisions\/4965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hlhr.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ngain has led to this latest shameful development, which is blatantly xenophobic and runs counter to European and international human rights standards and values\u201d, Cruchten declared that \u201cthe new law criminalises a range of lawful activities by grass-roots activists
\nand NGOs in support of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants and will seriously impede their work. It is problematic from the point view of international human rights standards, and especially the freedoms of association and expression\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nfounded.<\/p>\n
\nfreedoms, human rights, separation of powers are principles that should always be placed above any kind of short-term political considerations.<\/p>\n
\n2. European Civic Forum
\n3. EuroMed Rights
\n4. FIDH \u2013 International Federation for Human Rights
\n5. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee
\n6. Latvian Human Rights Committee
\n7. Statewatch
\n8. La Cimade
\n9. Asociaci\u00f3n Pro Derechos Humanos de Andaluc\u00eda
\n10. Italian Federation for Human Rights
\n11. AMERA International
\n12. European Association for the Defence of Human Rights \u2013 Bulgaria
\n13. Arci \u2013 Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana
\n14. Finnish League for Human Rights
\n15. Liga Portuguesa dos Direitos Humanos \u2013 CIVITAS
\n16. KISA \u2013 Action For Equality, Support, Antiracism
\n17. Hellenic League for Human Rights
\n18. Greek Council for Refugees
\n19. Action
\n20. Luxembourg Ouvert et Solidaire \u2013 Ligue des Droits de l\u2019Homme
\n21. Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law
\n22. LVRM \u2013 Dutch League for Human Rights
\n23. AITIMA
\n24. Internationale Liga f\u00fcr Menschenrechte
\n25. Lithuanian NGO Information and Support Centre
\n26. Italian Council for Refugees
\n27. Academia Cidad\u00e3
\n28. Ligue des droits de L\u2019Homme \u2013 Belgique
\n29. Mirovni in\u0161titut\/Peace Institute
\n30. LIDU \u2013 Lega Italiana dei Diritti dell\u2019Uomo
\n31. New Europeans
\n32. Pro asyl
\n33. Ligue des droits de l\u2019Homme \u2013 France
\n34. CIVICUS
\n35. Human Security Collective
\n36. European Humanist Federation
\n37. Young European Federalists
\n38. Malta Association of Human Rights
\n39. Comit\u00e9 pour le Respect des Libert\u00e9s et des droits de l\u2019Homme en Tunisie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"