CoE commissioner urges amendments in media regulations, warns of rise of intolerance

Strasbourg (MTI) – The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner recommended further changes to Hungarian media regulations and warned of the rise of intolerance in a report published on Tuesday.

Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Nils Muiznieks also urged improvements for asylum-seekers in his report on Hungary.

Muiznieks and his delegation gauged media freedom, the fight against intolerance and discrimination and the rights of asylum seekers during a visit in July, when they held discussions with state authorities, and national and international NGOs.

Muiznieks noted amendments to bring Hungary’s media legislation in line with European norms but raised concern that, in practice, some existing provisions had a chilling effect on journalistic freedom.

“This is particularly true for the severe sanctions, including high fines which, although rarely imposed, appear to have forced a number of media outlets to engage in self-censorship,” he added.

Muiznieks recommended in the report that the Hungarian authorities adopt additional amendments to media regulations, including repealing or reformulating certain passages on opinion and political views contained in the media law, extending the protection of journalists’ sources to freelance journalists, and excluding print and online media from the registration requirements.

“Regarding the independence of the Media Council, the Commissioner notes that the political constellation in Hungary, characterised by a dominant majority, coupled with the wide-ranging powers of this body, leads to the fact that the Media Council is not seen as independent from political influence and control. The Commissioner calls on the authorities to review the appointment procedure for media regulatory bodies,” the report said.

Muiznieks also expressed concern about increasing threats to media pluralism. He said measures such as the tax on advertising revenues and restrictions on political advertising as “further attempts to curb media freedom in the country”.

The report also puts forward concerns about the deterioration of the situation as regards racism and intolerance in Hungary, with “anti-Gypsyism” being the most blatant form of intolerance, as illustrated by distinctively harsh manifestations, including violence targeting Roma people and paramilitary marches and patrolling in Roma populated villages.

“Despite positions taken by the Hungarian authorities to condemn anti-Semitic speech, anti-Semitism is a recurring problem,” the report stated.

Muiznieks referred to “the growing visible presence of extremist organisations in the last years” as one of the most worrying trends in the area of racism and intolerance in Hungary.

“A distinctive feature of this phenomenon is the combination of the strong presence in the Hungarian national parliament of a party which uses extremist rhetoric and the close links between the latter and paramilitary groups carrying out acts of intimidation against Roma,” he said.

He welcomed steps taken to reinforce Hungary’s legislative framework against hate crimes and hate speech and measures to improve its implementation. At the same time he urged the Hungarian authorities to address persisting failures, including by better investigating the possible racial motivation of offences.

He urged the Hungarian authorities “to step up efforts to improve Roma access to education by addressing all forms of school segregation of Roma children. The dire housing situation of many Roma living in substandard and segregated settlements and the discriminatory impact on Roma of some measures taken at local level should also be addressed as a matter of priority.”

Concerning discrimination against persons with disabilities, Muiznieks “strongly urges” the Hungarian authorities to make progress in ensuring compliance with the right of these persons to live independently in the community.

While welcoming progress made in the fight against intolerance and discrimination against LGBTI persons, he called on the authorities to take all necessary measures to address discrimination against LGBTI persons and fight physical violence against them.

Muiznieks expressed worry at measures taken in the last three years to prohibit rough sleeping and the construction of huts and shacks in Budapest and other cities, which have widely been described as criminalising homelessness in practice. Referring to “the obsolete and overcrowded system of emergency shelters in Budapest and elsewhere”, he urged the Hungarian authorities to review the restrictive regulations in light of internationally agreed standards.

Despite improvements in the legal framework introduced in 2013, the report said Muiznieks remains concerned about the infrequent use made of alternatives to detention, and called on the Hungarian authorities to ensure that the detention of asylum seekers is only used as a last resort.

“The Commissioner notes that the detention of asylum seeking families is still provided for by the law, although there have been no cases of such detention recently. In the Commissioner’s view, children should not be subjected to immigration detention, whether with or without their families,” the report said.

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