We wrote an open letter to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
At the end of January 2024, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a report on the Hungarian child protection system prepared by the National University of Public Service and the Office of the Fundamental Rights Commissioner. Together with three other organisations, we protested in an open letter that the document presents the anti-LGBTQI legislation, known as the Propaganda Law, as a 'promising practice'.
The open letter is jointly signed by the Háttér Society, Amnesty International Hungary, Budapest Pride (Rainbow Mission Foundation) and Labris Lesbian Association.
The signatories of the letter underline the remarkable efforts made by the FRA to investigate and understand the child protection systems in the Member States. However, they find it worrying and highly objectionable that the report describes the anti-LGBTQI law as a 'promising practice' from a child protection perspective.
The report says the "real impact of the anti-LGBTQI amendments will be seen in the future". However, the signatory organisations stress that the impact of the propaganda law is felt in all areas of life: NGOs and external experts are still not allowed to hold sex education classes in schools, the government decree regulating the registration procedure has not been adopted yet, consumer protection proceedings have been launched against bookshops for selling LGBTQI content, and the Media Council has tried to take action against programmes featuring sexual or gender minorities.
The signatory NGOs are calling on the FRA to remove the report from its website or ask for it to be amended. The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law, and EU funds have been frozen because of the anti-LGBTQI provisions, so the EU's position is clear. Accordingly, the FRA should distance itself from the report on Hungary.