Solidarity with the civil society in Hungary

Hun­ga­ri­an Hel­sin­ki Com­mit­tee recei­ves the Human Rights Award of the PRO ASYL Foun­da­ti­on 2018 

Today, the PRO ASYL Foun­da­ti­on hono­red the work of the Hun­ga­ri­an Hel­sin­ki Com­mit­tee (HHC), awar­ding its co-chairs Már­ta Par­da­vi and András Kádár the Human Rights Award 2018. The cerem­o­ny with more than 180 guests took place at the »Haus am Dom« in Frank­furt. The HHC is one of the most important civil rights orga­niza­ti­ons in Hun­ga­ry advo­ca­ting human and refu­gees’ rights and uphol­ding the rule of law.

The Human Rights Award of the PRO ASYL foun­da­ti­on is of gre­at importance in the wake of the upco­ming deba­te in the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment about the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the core values of the Euro­pean Uni­on. On the 11^th and 12^th of Sep­tem­ber, Mem­bers of the EP will deba­te on whe­ther to take action and vote yes to prompt EU action against Hun­ga­ry accor­ding to the Artic­le 7 of the Euro­pean Treaties. 

In her accep­tance speech, Már­ta Par­da­vi addres­sed the Mem­bers of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment: »This is one of the last chan­ces for the Euro­pean Uni­on to stand up for its core values. In Hun­ga­ry, we find our­sel­ves in a situa­ti­on in which the rule of law ends and arbi­tra­ry auto­cra­cy beg­ins. Plea­se vote “yes” on Sep­tem­ber 12^th.«

»The Hun­ga­ri­an govern­ment poli­ti­ci­zes the work of the Con­sti­tu­tio­nal Court, curtails its powers and incre­asing­ly under­mi­nes the inde­pen­dence of the judi­cia­ry and the press. Tigh­ten­ed laws have been crea­ted to rest­rict the space for civil socie­ty acti­vism and attack the social spi­rit«,the Com­mis­sio­ner for Human Rights Poli­cy and Huma­ni­ta­ri­an Aid, Dr. Bär­ber Kof­ler sta­ted. »Stan­ding up for the rights of refu­gees and the pro­tec­tion of the rule of law in such a fraught atmo­sphe­re is some­thing which deser­ves our utmost respect«, said Kofler. 

Despi­te the incre­asing thre­at and the attempts of the Hun­ga­ri­an govern­ment to cri­mi­na­li­ze orga­ni­sa­ti­ons for civil rights, the HHC stands strong. For ins­tance, as a result of the inter­ven­ti­on of the HHC, all asyl­um see­kers in the tran­sit zones are recei­ving food again. The HHC had to request inte­rim mea­su­res from the Euro­pean Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on a case-by-case basis for two weeks to ensu­re that aut­ho­ri­ties pro­vi­de food to detai­ned asyl­um see­kers who­se claims were found inad­mis­si­ble. In all cases the ECtHR gran­ted the requests and orde­red the Hun­ga­ri­an govern­ment to pro­vi­de food to the eight affec­ted persons.

The chair of PRO ASYL, Ande­as Lipsch, cal­led the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment to take action against the Orban: »Any cozy­ing up will threa­ten the enti­re Euro­pean com­mu­ni­ty and the values it stands for. A mem­ber stat that vio­la­tes the core of Euro­pean human rights, decla­res civil prot­ago­nists enemies and inti­mi­da­tes the oppo­si­ti­on, must be sanc­tion­ed with the loss of its right to vote.«

With the annu­al Human Rights Award, the PRO ASYL Foun­da­ti­on encou­ra­ges and honors public figu­res who have been pro­mi­nent in defen­ding human rights and pro­tec­ting refugees.

Pic­tures of the ceremony:

Bil­der der Veranstaltung:

PRO ASYL-Vor­sit­zen­der Andre­as Lipsch über­reicht Már­ta Par­da­vi und András Kádár die Urkun­de der Stif­tung PRO ASYL zum Men­schen­rechts­preis 2018. 

Már­ta Par­da­vi und András Kádár bei der Preisverleihung.

Von links: Andre­as Lipsch, Már­ta Par­da­vi, András Kádár und Karl Kopp, Euro­pa-Refe­rent von PRO ASYL. 

Men­schen­rechts­be­auf­trag­te der Bun­des­re­gie­rung, Dr. Bär­bel Kof­ler war Lau­da­to­rin bei der dies­jäh­ri­gen Preis­ver­lei­hung des Men­schen­rechts­prei­ses der Stif­tung PRO ASYL.

PRO ASYL-Vor­sit­zen­der Andre­as Lipsch bei der Preisverleihung.

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