European Parliament disapproves of new Hungarian constitution

Today the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the revised Hungarian constitution. Recalling Hungary’s obligations under international human rights law, the Parliament noted that the new Basic Law of Hungary fails to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Citing widespread criticism of the new constitution by international bodies and human rights organisations , the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution which calls on Hungarian authorities to amend the new constitution, or adopt ordinary laws to protect human rights universally.

Notably, the text asks Hungary to “guarantee equal protection of the rights of every citizen”, and further “explicitly protect in the new Constitution all fundamental civil and social rights in line with Hungary’s international obligations, ban the death penalty, life imprisonment without parole and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, provide sufficient guarantees concerning the protection of fundamental rights, and make it clear that fundamental rights are acquired at birth and are unconditional”.

The Intergroup on LGBT Rights had previously warned that the draft constitution failed to protect LGBT people’s rights; proposed a restrictive definition of ‘family’; and potentially affected women’s sexual health and rights.