US State Department highlights human rights issues in Hungary

Washington (MTI) – The US Department of State mentioned actions against civil groups, curbing media pluralism and discrimination against the Roma minority among the gravest human rights problems of Hungary in its country report published on Thursday.

“Among the most important human rights problems during the year were serious governmental and law enforcement actions against civil society organizations, continued curtailment of media pluralism, and societal discrimination against and exclusion of Roma,” the report said.

Authors of the report also criticised the ruling parties for making “comprehensive changes to the legal framework and state structure … largely without public consultation or inclusive dialogue with opposition parties”.

According to the report, other problems in 2014 included “prison overcrowding, lengthy pretrial detention, a politically determined process for recognizing churches, detention of asylum seekers, government corruption, societal violence against women and children, sexual harassment of women, anti-Semitism, and trafficking in persons”.

The State Department prepared its annual report of 200 countries and regions for the US Congress.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters