In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, Commissioner O’Flaherty asks members of Parliament to reconsider the amendment to the Law on the right to assembly, which effectively bans events like Pride marches. He also urges them to refrain from adopting pending constitutional and other amendments which raise concerns about their compatibility with human rights standards.
The Commissioner warns that banning peaceful events which promote LGBTI equality violates the right to freedom of assembly. The Commissioner also expresses concern regarding police powers to use facial recognition technology to identify those attending assemblies.
Additionally, he is alarmed by an amendment that would place a ban on legal gender recognition on a constitutional footing, which contradicts Hungary’s obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and disregards the reality of intersex people and the diversity of gender identity.
Finally, he regrets a draft amendment that would remove gender identity from the explicit list of protected characteristics under the Equal Treatment Act.