The Council of Europe expressed, in a report published Thursday, March 9, its "
concern
" at the hate speech and the "
increasing presence of xenophobia in political discourse
" in Hungary, targeting asylum seekers, Roma, Muslims, and sexual minorities.
"
Public figures, including politicians of all persuasions, are strongly encouraged to take a swift, firm and public stand against the expression of hate speech
", indicates the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, a body of the Council of Europe, in the presentation of this report which covers the period 2018-2022.
Several recommendations
The Commission says it is "
concerned
" by the adoption of laws "
seriously undermining
" the rights of asylum seekers as well as LGBT people, in particular during the state of emergency introduced to deal with the Covid pandemic.
The body deplores the segregation of Roma populations which remains "
widespread
" in the education sector, and denounces "
the continuation of forced evictions
" against them, often without "
any rehousing solution
".
“
Racist acts targeting Muslims have also been reported, mainly taking the form of verbal attacks against women wearing visible religious symbols
,” the report noted.
The body makes several recommendations to the Hungarian authorities, asking them in particular to “
carry out an independent review
” of the measures adopted during the state of emergency in order to assess their compliance with human rights.
It calls for a strengthening of the services responsible for identifying and dealing with “
racist offences
” and against sexual minorities, and the adoption of a “
strategy for the integration of migrants
”.
Read alsoRule of law: Brussels demands explanations from Poland and Hungary
"Serious efforts"
The body also welcomed the "
serious efforts
" carried out in Hungary to welcome people fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as the adoption in 2019 of a protocol to improve police investigations into offenses "
motivated by hate
" .
.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is a body specializing in issues of discrimination in Europe.
It is one of the many thematic bodies of the Council of Europe, an organization which brings together in Strasbourg the 46 signatory States of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.
In September 2022, the European Parliament adopted a report affirming that Hungary, led since 2010 by the nationalist and very conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was no longer a true democracy, but a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy
”
.
SEE ALSO
- At Camp des Milles, Emmanuel Macron warns of "the rise of xenophobia and anti-Semitism"
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