HUNGARY MUST REVOKE AMENDMENT THREATENING JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE – UN RIGHTS CHIEF

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 18 Jun 2013 14:00:01 -0400
Subject: HUNGARY MUST REVOKE AMENDMENT THREATENING JUDICIAL
INDEPENDENCE – UN RIGHTS CHIEF
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

HUNGARY MUST REVOKE AMENDMENT THREATENING JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE – UN
RIGHTS CHIEFNew York, Jun 18 2013 2:00PMThe top United Nations human
rights official today urged the Hungarian Government to revoke a
constitutional amendment that threatens the judiciary's independence
and endangers the country's system of checks and balances.

"Hungary should seek to maintain high standards of human rights
protection," <"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13464&LangID=E">said
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. "Our view is that
this effectively undermines the independence of judges, which is
essential for the protection of human rights."

In March, the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law (constitution)
was adopted by the Hungarian Parliament without proper public
discussion on issues that may affect the population's human rights,
according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR).

Last week, an advisory panel of the Council of Europe issued a
critical report on the amendment, saying it "perpetuates problems of
the independence of the judiciary, seriously undermines the
possibilities of constitutional review in Hungary and endangers the
constitutional system of checks and balances."

The panel, known as the Venice Commission, said the Fourth Amendment
had provisions that contradicted Hungary's basic law and European
standards. The Commission is the Council of Europe's advisory body on
constitutional matters.

"We welcome the Venice Commission's opinion which confirms the
concerns we expressed when the Fourth Amendment was adopted in March,"
Ms. Pillay said. "The Fourth Amendment as a whole represents further
retrograde steps in terms of human rights protection. This is an issue
of serious concern, not least because Hungary was previously known for
a highly advanced system of human rights protection."

Ms. Pillay said she shared the concerns of the Venice Commission on
the independence of judges, noting that the position of the
politically appointed president of the National Judicial Office had
been reinforced by the Fourth Amendment, while the court's own
self-governing body, the National Judicial Council, was not even
mentioned in the Constitution.

The amendment also upholds the President's right to reassign cases to
a different court – a provision that was previously adopted as a
transitional measure and was subsequently struck down as
unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.

In its report, the Venice Commission highlighted a "consistent
pattern" of rulings by the Constitutional Court being overridden by
changing the constitution.

"The removal of all Constitutional Court case law up to 2012 is
extremely worrying," Ms. Pillay said. "Many human rights principles
have been formed over the years and found their expression in the
practice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, including the Court's
ground-breaking abolition of the death penalty, which was acclaimed
worldwide and served as an inspiration for other countries, including
South Africa, Ukraine, Albania and Lithuania."

The Hungarian Government is planning a further amendment in the autumn
in response to some of the criticism of the Venice Commission and the
European Commission. However, Ms. Pillay said "at this point, these
concessions appear very minor," and urged the Government to address
seriously all of the issues raised over the last three years by
international human rights mechanisms, including the Venice
Commission.Jun 18 2013 2:00PM
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