HUNGARY: Children's Rights in the UN Special Procedures' Reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

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• UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression
• Independent Expert on minority issues
• UN Special Rapporteur on racism
• UN Special Rapporteur on toxic waste

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UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Mr. Abid Hussain
E/CN.4/1999/64/Add.2
Report published: 29 January 1999
Country visit: 9 to 13 November 1998

Issues raised:

Awareness: Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction that there are a certain number of talk shows on human rights issues broadcast on Hungarian TV. During a meeting with the Vice-President of MTV, the Special Rapporteur encouraged him to promote even more this type of programme on themes such as neglect of children, gender inequality, and even controversies relating to the freedom of opinion and expression. (Paragraph 44).

Human rights education: In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child of June 1998, and the Human Rights Committee of August 1993, the Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts to disseminate the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as all other texts in the field of human rights, to NGOs, the mass media and the public at large, including children themselves, in order to increase the accessibility to information by children from rural, poor and minority communities. (Paragraph 79).

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Independent Expert on minority issues
A/HRC/4/9/Add.2
Report published: 4 January 2007
Country visit: 26 June-3 July 2006

Issues raised:

Child marriage: […...} Issues related to child marriage in some sectors of the Romani community, are also lacking adequate policy measures. (Paragraph 34).

Poverty: The Roma in Hungary are disproportionately affected by severe poverty. A 2003 World Bank report states that 40.3 per cent of Romani households in Hungary live in absolute poverty compared to only 6.9 per cent of general Hungarian households, while Hungary’s 2004 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report, Reducing Poverty and Social Exclusion, states that by the end of the 1990s, 62 per cent of Roma families lived on less than half the median income (p. 20). According to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Labour Organization (ILO) survey in 2002, more than half of Roma children live in households which regularly go hungry. (Paragraph 50).

Infant mortality: Life expectancy rates are 60 years for Roma, compared to a national average of 72.3, while infant mortality rates are high. These are disparities which the Independent Expert considers to be a direct consequence of poverty. Furthermore a serious shortage of some 126 general medical practitioners in Roma areas, suggests that many may have little or no essential primary medical care services. Excluding Budapest, 18.6 per cent of Hungary’s Roma live in a settlement without a local doctor. (Paragraph 53)

Education and minority groups: In education, the system of minority self-governments has enabled funding for the teaching of and in minority languages at primary and secondary levels. According to the regulations, both local and national minority self-governments are entitled to take over a local minority school if they conclude an agreement with the local municipal council. Competition for limited funds was however noted as a problem that has created tensions and resulted in schools achieving only limited progress in minority language education, in terms of the hours of teaching available and the subjects taught. Concerns were expressed that plans to consolidate schools would have further detrimental effect on minority language teaching. (Paragraph 24).

In recognition of difficulties encountered by small minority communities and municipal authorities in regard to the provision of minority language education, Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education as modified by Act LXVIII of 1999 offers a system of “complementary minority education”, which makes participation in minority education possible for minorities that do not have a minority school due to low numbers of children. Students attending normal school education are entitled to special additional courses to study their minority language and culture. This instruction is recognized and the certificate achieved entitles students to credits to assist them to enter higher education. Extra-school courses called “Sunday schools” also constitute a special form of minority language education organized by national minority self-governments, with financing from the Ministry of Education. (Paragraph 25).

Abuses of the system of minority self-government have been recorded, including cases where non-minority individuals have acquired positions within, or actually established, minority self-overnments for financial and political gain, in what has been termed “ethno-business”. Amendments to the 1993 Act on National and Ethnic Minorities, requiring registration of persons belonging to minorities in order to vote and stand for election to minority self-governments, aim to address such problems, although complaints continue to be raised by minorities. Amendments also allow minority self-governments to take over certain institutions, including schools, with a view to enhancing their ability to fulfil minority language teaching requirements. (Paragraph 26).

Aspects of Roma identity and culture, including traditional Roma languages, have suffered serious decline to the point of vanishing in some communities. The Government considers that approximately 80-85 per cent of the Roma population have lost the full use of Roma languages, partly a result of “assimilationist” policies pursued under communism and a lack of opportunities within the formal education system to learn or be taught in Roma languages, culture and traditions. (Paragraph 30).

Urgent attention is required to fully address the education needs of Roma children, including ensuring access to quality education, curriculum and language issues, and the specific situation of Roma girls regarding education. Significant efforts by the Government to address segregation and discrimination are commended by the Independent Expert, however, they have to date achieved only limited impact despite high levels of funding and prioritization of this issue. (Paragraph 58).

Hungary’s third periodic report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (EC/12/HUN/3, para. 598) states that almost all Roma children now complete eight classes of primary school, a significant improvement over the rates of only 26 per cent and 75 per cent at the beginning of the 1970s and 1990s respectively. However, very few progress to achieve a secondary school leaving certificate. Roma are 50 times less likely to receive a college or university diploma than non-Roma and less than 1 per cent hold higher education certificates. (paragraph 59).

Post-communist Constitutional provisions entrenched local government authority in a number of important areas including education, creating a stumbling block for national efforts to address disparities in education between Roma and non-Roma children. To date, no Government has been able to achieve amendments to the Act on education that would wrest even limited powers from local authorities. While the national Government faces some limitations in its influence on local authorities, it is considered not to have been robust enough in its efforts to enforce its national education integration policy. Furthermore, there is no effective independent monitoring and evaluation system within Hungary and schools are under no obligation to accept or invite independent inspectors even if recommended by the national Government. Segregation in education (Paragraph 60).

One Roma woman commented that: “Roma children are being robbed of their future by segregation in education.” The vast majority of children attend primary schools that are segregated with respect to Roma and non-Roma students. Eliminating segregated schooling at the primary level has become the priority objective for creating access to quality education for Roma. This important imperative adopted by the national Government has been the focus of resistance by many parents and local “majority” governments. (Paragraph 61).

Resistance has taken a number of forms including: “white flight” to communities without Roma populations within the school districts, labelling Roma children as mentally disabled and diverting them to separate schools or separate tracks within majority schools, designating Roma as “private students” who need not attend classes, and even co-opting the Roma minority self-government structure in order to neutralize its ability to block local efforts to evade desegregation initiatives of the national Government. (Paragraph 62).

The system of “free choice” established by the Constitution has been used as a mechanism for segregation in the school system. Parents can decide not to send their children to certain schools, and schools in other districts were free to make decisions as to which students to accept from outside their catchment area. Amendments to the Education Act in 2005 offer useful potential to assist in combating “free choice” as a vehicle for school segregation, since schools will be required to accept “disadvantaged students” first and to guarantee that a certain balance is maintained in the student body. This would avoid the “tipping point” phenomenon whereby increases over a certain percentage of Roma students would drive the best teachers to abandon the school and non-Roma parents to withdraw their children. (Paragraph 63).

Another vehicle to achieve segregation is that Roma children are disproportionately placed in separate schools or classes for the mentally or learning disabled, regardless of their actual intellectual abilities. The Commissioner for the Integration of Disadvantaged and Roma Children of the Ministry of Education has stated that while 2 per cent of non-Roma children are in special needs schools for children classified as “slightly mentally disabled”, this figure is 20 per cent amongst Roma children. Children are tested prior to entrance to the primary school system, at which stage Roma children are more likely to be filtered into such special schools. While attendance of kindergarten is important to early educational progress, estimates suggest that a high percentage of Roma, usually those living in smaller or isolated settlements, lack kindergarten places. Moreover 10-11 per cent of Roma children never attend kindergarten although, according to the Act on Public Education, one year is compulsory for every child before they start school. On a positive note, new policies have been conceived to make it harder to fail children in the first three years of schooling, assisting disadvantaged children to catch up. (Paragraph 64).

Financial motivations at the municipal level may work to perpetuate segregation and Roma exclusion from mainstream education. The State gives to municipalities higher grants on a per capita basis for children labelled slightly mentally disabled. However, without effective independent monitoring, there is often no evidence that extra funds are spent on the special needs schools, which are widely regarded as substandard with poor facilities and low teaching standards. Research groups suggest that the numerical intake of children into special needs schools remains constant year-on-year, suggesting a system based on quotas and institutional maintenance, rather than on the specific education needs of disabled children. (Paragraph 65).

As part of its Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, focusing on education, employment, health and housing, the Hungarian Government has provided financial incentives to local governments to assist in desegregation of schools. However the take-up has been poor and serious abuses of the system have been reported. For those authorities that fail to put in place desegregation measures, according to the Equal Treatment Act and recent judicial decisions, no penalties have been imposed and their core State funding remains intact. (Paragraph 66).

A widely cited recent judicial decision on school segregation found the Miskolc Municipality, in its role as Education Authority for Hungary’s second largest city, to be maintaining segregation of Roma children in primary schools where they are taught in separate buildings and receive lower quality education. A legal action brought in June 2005 focused on seven schools which were “administratively and financially” merged but in practice maintained physical segregation. In June 2006, the Debrecen Appeals Court overturned a first instance judgement, in finding that Miskolc maintained the segregation of Roma children, violating their right to equal treatment. Importantly the Court agreed that not only active, but passive conduct could lead to a violation of the Equal Treatment Act. (Paragraph 67).

In Jászladány in 2002 the municipal government actively segregated Roma and non-Roma children through the creation of a private foundation school (occupying half of the existing school building) excluding Roma children. This was partially achieved by manipulation of the system of minority self-government in order to neutralize its powers of veto. In the Roma minority self-government elections, the mayor’s wife, considered by community members to be non-Roma, stood as a candidate and was elected president. Until reforms instituted in July of this year, non-minorities could participate as candidates and the electorate in contests for minority self-governments. In this capacity, she supported the foundation school, thus allowing it to be registered. (Paragraph 68).

The Equal Treatment Act bans segregation in schools and the Equal Treatment Authority has the power to bring legal cases against local authorities in cases of segregation. However, a finding of violation, even by the Constitutional Court, is not matched by sufficient penalty to prevent continuation of the offence or to act as a deterrent. In the Miskolc case, the Appeals Court concluded that, beyond a finding of violation and an order to publicize its finding via the media, it could not require Miskolc to actively engage in implementing a desegregation plan. Education of Roma girls and women . (Paragraph 69).

Hungary’s 2006 report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) demonstrates that some 35-40 per cent of Roma women have not completed primary school education. The Independent Expert expressed her concern in particular over the educational situation of Roma girls, both in regard to the discriminatory educational environment and attitudes within Roma communities that further restrict the participation of girls in education. (Paragraph 70).

Policy measures must take into account the different obstacles faced by girls, and the specific concerns of parents, for example in relation to situations where children must travel to schools in neighbouring localities. The persistence of rigidly defined traditional gender roles within Roma communities was highlighted as a factor seriously restricting access of Roma girls to full education possibilities. The high proportion of Roma girls leaving education at an early age requires focused attention. A system of “second chance schools” offers an opportunity for those who have become mothers at an early age, to continue education by accommodating childcare needs. The Independent Expert commends such initiatives as examples of “promising practice”. Government statistics also reveal a predominance of female students benefiting from a scholarship programme for Roma students. (Paragraph 71).

Recommendations

Education : While the government policy with respect to desegregation must be commended, it is clear that the current approach based on financial incentives is grossly inadequate to match the non-Roma citizen resistance at the municipal level. (Paragraph 95).

(a) The State must devise effective measures to fulfil its obligation to guarantee compliance with its national anti-discrimination and equal treatment legislation, its Constitution and its international legal obligations to eliminate discrimination. It must put in place effective dissuasive sanctions that attach to relevant identified authorities if compliance is not realized. Consideration should be given to the withdrawal of funding from schools that fail to integrate according to their legal requirements;

(b) The free-choice system for parents and the ability of schools to freely select or exclude students has been an engine to generate segregation in Hungary’s public schools. The Independent Expert welcomes recent initiatives to limit “free choice” in ways that would create and sustain a healthy balance of ethnic diversity in public schools and equal access to the highest possible quality education for all students. Such measures should be maintained and vigorously enforced;

(c) The Government must also initiate a system of compulsory independent monitoring of schools to ensure that national policies with respect to desegregation are fully implemented at the municipal level.

Children with disabilities, minority groups and education: The current practice of labelling young Roma children as mentally disabled without justification based on the child’s intellectual capabilities is an unfortunate ruse to create segregated schools and classrooms. The practice is a serious violation of the rights of the child, discriminatory against Roma and has massive negative impact on the lives and future life chances of the targeted children. (Paragraph 96).

(a) This system should be abolished and legal sanction brought against those authorities continuing this practice;

(b) Culturally and linguistically appropriate assessments of learning abilities should be developed by nationally recognized professionals in consultation with professionals from minority communities to replace the current testing process that has resulted in the disproportionate targeting of Roma students for schools and classrooms for the mentally disabled. Students who have already been tested should be reassessed immediately. A national plan, implemented at the local level with full involvement of parents, should be established and independently monitored to ensure that the legitimate special needs of identified students, including Roma, are met in the most appropriate manner;

(c) The Independent Expert greatly welcomes government initiatives such as the “Sure Start” programme, to support Roma and other disadvantaged students from the earliest age. However, urgent attention is required to address the current shortfall in kindergarten places for Roma children particularly in isolated rural settlements;

(d) Initiatives aimed at assisting disadvantaged students, including afternoon schooling and extra curricula activities are welcome. Such measures should be extended and adequately funded to take into account the serious extent of discrimination faced by the Roma at all levels of the education system, and to assist Roma children to complete secondary education;

(e) An affirmative action policy in regard to access to higher education, including via the Roma scholarship scheme, should be maintained and expanded to encourage Roma to complete higher education courses. Revisions to the financing and administration of the scholarship programmes, including the introduction of “post-financing” have created financial and administrative barriers for some students and should be reviewed;

(f) Roma communities should be encouraged, including through a targeted public awareness campaign and through the social worker system, to realize their full obligations to the education of both boys and girls and to encourage school attendance;

(g) All currently certified teachers and all currently in institutions of teacher training should receive training on pedagogical approaches for ethnically diverse student bodies. Included should be specific training:

(i) In working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds;

(ii) On how to help non-minority children overcome their racial prejudice and resentment;

On how to deal with hate speech in the classroom.

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UN Special Rapporteur on racism
Githu Muigai
Press release issued: 31 May 2011
Country visit: 23 – 27 May 2011

Issues raised:

N.B Only press release available.

Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants: The situation of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants is a matter that calls for some attention. Complaint of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia by refugees and asylum seekers on a daily basis were reported during the mission and the Special Rapporteur expressed his concern at the conditions of detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants, including women, elderly persons, and children. It is important for the Government to ensure that it fully complies with its international human rights obligations.

National and Ethnic Minorities: While the Government has developed key important measures to address the situation of Roma, their situation has not improved in the last years but rather worsened. They have been the most affected by Hungary’s difficult transition period from socialism to a market-based economy and they continue to face racism, racial discrimination and intolerance in the areas of employment, education, housing and health. Reports of violence and abuse against Roma by the police, and discrimination in the judiciary, including in the criminal system, were also brought to Mr. Muigai’s attention. “If we do not act now, there may not be a tomorrow on this issue,” he said. “There is a great urgency to reinvigorate the education of Roma with all the necessary resources of the Hungarian Government. Hungary will have succeeded when it removes Roma from poverty, lack of education and unemployment”.

Read the full press release here: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11085&L...
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Special Rapporteur on toxic waste

Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Calin Georgescu

A/HRC/24/39/Add.1

Country visit: 4 – 11 October 2012

Report published: 6 September 2013

Hazardous substances and waste: 22.The Special Rapporteur wishes to remind the State that the European Committee of Social Rights found that Hungary was not in conformity with article 11 (on the right to protection of health) because it had not taken measures to reduce the mortality rate nor had there been adequate screening of the main causes of death especially, because interventions were aimed at children and young people and not adults. The Special Rapporteur encourages Hungary to comply with the Committee’s recommendation that it assess the true state of the health of the population and, in particular, that it establish what role hazardous substances have in the high cancer rate or other diseases in general. In so doing, the State will make the necessary advances in the right to health it seeks to protect in its Constitution, in particular article XX thereof (para 22).

Environmental education: The Special Rapporteur acknowledges the efforts made by Hungary to promote environmental education at all levels through a cross-sectoral approach, including by collaboration between the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Education (para 23).

Rescue of children: The Special Rapporteur was concerned at information he received indicating that there are no special protocols for the rescue of children, the elderly, disabled or other persons in need of protection in the training programme developed for disaster management forces in Hungary (para 31).

The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Hungary design modules on special rules for rescuing persons requiring special protection, such as children, elderly persons and the disabled (para 57).

The Ajka incident: On 4 October 2010, Hungary experienced the Ajka incident, the worst industrial incident and ecological catastrophe in its history. On that day, a reservoir belonging to MAL Magyar Aluminium, a company that took over the plant when it was privatized by the State, ruptured, releasing the red sludge (highly caustic industrial waste produced in the process of alumina extraction from bauxite) contained therein. The substance flooded towns, destroying homes and causing injury and fatalities to residents and rescuers in its wake. Ten people, including three children, died (paras 26, 32).

The governmental committee responsible for the overall coordination of the response established an expert group, which included the participation of the Hungarian Academy of Science, in order to develop a model to ascertain short- and long-term effects on the health of the affected population. Since the bodies of children are more vulnerable to stressors, they were specifically subjected to biomonitoring, which measured pollutants in the body. Urine samples were taken between November 2010 and April 2012 from the children of the affected population, mainly in Devecser and Kolontár, with children from Ajka as the control group. The Public Health Authority found no statistically significant difference in the urinary levels of cadmium, cobalt, chromium or nickel excreted by the children in the red sludge area or in the control area. Statistically significant differences were found between the urinary arsenic and vanadium levels among children in the two areas; these differences were, however, not biologically significant, and the values measured were similar to the published reference values (para 34).

The Special Rapporteur received testimony during the visit from a woman who claimed that her child was chronically asthmatic as a result of the incident and that no assistance had been provided for the child’s care. Without intending to treat the complaint as indicative of the concerns of the broader populace affected, the Special Rapporteur nevertheless wishes to remind the State of the particular health vulnerabilities of children to pollutants, and calls upon the State to ensure that measures are taken to encourage the healthy development of infants and children, including by providing facilities for the treatment of illness, rehabilitation, and removal of expectant mothers[1] from environments with hazardous substances, and that every child receives the protection and care necessary for their proper development as guaranteed by article XVI of the Constitution (para 35).

The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Hungary conduct a comprehensive national health survey on the impact of hazardous wastes on the population to assess the health of the nation and quantify environmental and social impact by means of reliable data, including consideration of the health concerns of vulnerable sections of the community, including women of childbearing age, elderly persons, children, the poor and the disabled (para 61).