UN rapporteurs urge Hungarian government to withdraw foreign funded NGO transparency bill

Vienna, May 16 (MTI) – Two human rights experts of the United Nations have called on the Hungarian government to withdraw its proposed bill on the transparency of civil groups funded by foreign donors, the UN’s information service UNIS said on Tuesday.

The bill, if passed by parliament into law, would severely curtail the rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly and association in Hungary, special rapporteurs Michel Forst and David Kaye said in their joint statement, a copy of which was sent to MTI.

They said that financial transparency of NGOs is already ensured under current legislation in Hungary, insisting that the bill would only discriminate against, delegitimise and stigmatise civil organisations that receive part or all of their funding from abroad.

The rapporteurs further said that the bill, if adopted, “would have a chilling effect not only on expressions of peaceful dissent but also on the legitimate work of NGOs and individual human rights defenders scrutinizing government and exposing human rights violations”.