HUNGARY, HATE SPEECH, AND RACISM

UNCLAS BUDAPEST 000149

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS SOCI HU
SUBJECT: HUNGARY, HATE SPEECH, AND RACISM

--------------
TIMELY EC RACISM AND INTOLERANCE REPORT
--------------


1. Coincidental, but timely, one day following the shooting
death of a 27-year-old Romani man and his five year-old son
in the village of Tatarszentgyorgy, the European Commission
Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) released their February
24 report that examined Hungarian racism and intolerance from
June 2004 to 2008. Although acknowledging progress made by
the Hungarian Government since the 2004 report - highlighting
the 2003 Act on Discrimination and the establishment of the
Equal Treatment Authority in 2005 - the report found
important shortcomings, which continue to give rise to
concern. In particular, the ECRI stated that the very high
level of constitutional protection afforded to freedom of
expression makes it difficult, if not impossible, for
authorities to initiate effective legal action against those
who use hate speech.

--------------
INEFFECTIVE LEGISLATION
--------------


2. Under current Hungarian law, incitement against groups is
not criminalized, and only the most extreme forms of hate
speech, i.e. incitement liable to provoke immediate violent
acts, are outlawed by the Hungarian Criminal Code. Under the
Hungarian Civil Code, a person specifically targeted by hate
speech may file a civil suit, but as long as the speech
remains abstract, not mentioning any specific individual,
there is no legal recourse. Following the political system
change in 1989, there were various unsuccessful attempts to
broaden the prohibition on the use of hate speech. Most
recently, in October 2007, Parliament amended the Civil Code,
extending legal remedies to individuals or associations
belonging to a group of people generally targeted by broadly
defined insults based on national, ethnic or racial identity.
Early in 2008, despite opposition from all three opposition
parties, the Socialists' coalition partner Free Democrats
(SzDSz),the President of the Republic, and civil rights
groups, Parliament passed the governing Socialists party's
initiative and amended the Criminal Code, which allowed
prosecutors to initiate investigation on broader grounds,
including non-verbal abuse, such as the use of Nazi salutes.
However, in June 2008, after President Solyom asked for a
constitutional review, the Constitutional Court ruled both
legislative acts to be unconstitutional, citing previous
rulings on the same subject in 1992, 1999, and 2004. The
Constitutional Court argued that the amendments infringed
upon the acceptable freedom of expression guarantees
protected by the Constitution.

--------------
HOT TOPIC, MUCH TALK, LITTLE ACTION
--------------


3. While the death of a Romanian handball player, allegedly
at the hands of Roma individuals in Veszprem on February 18,
significantly reinforced general public hostility towards the
Roma minority, the two killings in Tatarszentgyorgy, at least
temporarily, re-focused the public discourse from "gypsy
crime" to the lack of public security in general. Even the
radical right-wing journalist, Zsolt Bayer, well-known for
his harsh, anti-Roma rhetoric, condemned the perpetrators of
the Tatarszentgyorgy murders in the same way he condemned
those Roma who are charged with the murder in Veszprem. In a
speech in Parliament on February 24, FIDESZ's Roma MP Florian
Farkas warned that "the society has reached the edge of a
collision." Minority Affairs Ombudsman Erno Kallai followed
with his own address to Parliament, calling on the MPs to
promptly work out both an "ethnic peace plan" and a concrete
immediate action plan instead of making politically motivated
but ineffective statements. President Solyom, following
meetings with the Minister of Justice and Law Enforcement,
the National Police Chief, and the Prosecutor General,
expressed his shock and anger over the Tatarszentgyorgy
killings.

--------------
IMPETUS FOR CHANGE?
--------------


4. While the ECRI report highlighted the lack of strong hate
speech legislation, the reluctance of the authorities to
identify racism as a motivation for attacks also results from
shortcomings in the current criminal law. Although the
Criminal Code specifically identifies hate-motivated offenses
such as genocide, apartheid, violence against a member of a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group, incitement
against a community and use of symbols of despotism, the law
expressly grants judges discretion to take aggravating
circumstances, such as "base motivations" in cases of murder
or grievous bodily harm, into account when sentencing
offenders. However, due to the difficulty in proving racist
motivations under the present provisions, courts often treat
the offense as arising from a general disagreement, even in
cases with strong evidence of racist violence.


5. In their report the ECRI recommends that Hungary make
specific provisions in the criminal law to include racist
motivations as aggravating circumstances when considering
offenses. Prime Minister Gyurcsany announced on February 25
that the government's proposal to amend the Constitution has
been finalized; stressing that discussion and the action is
needed rather than waiting for more killings to happen.
Commenting that "freedom of speech is a value of which
Hungary can be proud of...everybody has to understand that it
is not possible to incite violence against ethnic groups
without consequences." He noted that the modifications to
the current legislation are not to limit the freedom of
expression, rather to better balance the rights and
obligations of freedom of speech and human dignity. Such
changes would require Parliament to amend the Constitution,
but this requires a two-thirds majority, which will be
difficult, if not unlikely, in the current political climate.
Foley