last updated August 12, 2006
The Fourth World Conference of Women was organized in September 1995 in Beijing, China. The closing document of this conference, the Beijing Declaration, was accepted by the Hungarian government and became the basis of Government Resolution 2174/1997. (VI. 26.).This text contains the Platform for Action which set strategic objectives and called for action by governments, intergovernmental organizations, and other institutions to promote and protect women’s human rights and to achieve “the empowerment of all women.” The tasks assigned by the Platform of Action have been broken down according to diverse ministries, setting deadlines for governments. Hungarian NGOs responsible for this page claim that the tasks listed by the Platform of Action have not been fully implemented.
In the fall of 2002, these NGOs, generally dealing with some aspect of VAW, (Women's Rights and Children's Rights Research and Training Center Foundation Budapest, NANE Women’s Rights Association, and Habeas Corpus Working Group) issued a petition which was addressed to the Hungarian state. In a period of a few weeks, this petition was signed by 50.000 people, making it clear that it was not only a handful of NGOs, but also many Hungarian citizens who were not satisfied with the way the Hungarian government treated the issue of domestic violence. As a response to the petition, Resolution of Parliament 45/2003. (IV. 16.) was issued. This relatively progressive document compelled the government to establish a national network of crisis centers and women’s shelters, and to organize the systematic training of professional service-providers who come into contact with such clients. The Resolution also compelled the government to make new legislation on the Order for Protection (‘restraining order’) in order to provide battered women with an immediate and unconditional measure to ensure their safety. The NGOs have also been formally involved in this legislative process so they provided some input and criticism. These were, however, not incorporated into the final version of the law. (For the final version of this law and a detailed NGO analysis of the final version, see attached Hungarian-language documents at the end of this page.)
The Hungarian Parliament also realized that in order to prevent and treat domestic violence, it is imperative to know its dynamics and to create laws on this specific issue, as well as to create an infrastructure in this field. This concept is visible in the document known as the “National Crime-Prevention Strategy” – Resolution of Parliament 115/2003. (X. 28.) in which the issue of domestic violence is discussed in chapter 7.3.
The issue of domestic violence also appeared in the 2004—2006 Government Program in the following sentences: “We are taking steps against domestic violence the victims of which are mainly children and women. We have to change urgently the view that it is the battered persons who have to escape, and that laws do not provide adequate protection against batterers.”
Also, as part of this period of heightened public consciousness, the Chief of the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) issued a Resolution (No. 13/2003. III.27) which summarized the tasks and obligations of the police in cases of domestic violence with a special emphasis on cases involving minors (meaning persons under 18 years of age). The main points of the Resolution are: the police are obliged to appear at the scene even if they only suspect that there is a crime (to counter the common misconception also shared by police officers that they are “not supposed to interfere with family disputes until blood is shed”), to speak to offenders and victims separately, to take all action that is legally possible at a given situation, and to report the case in writing to the local child protection authorities if there are minors involved. Much as these principles are welcome, NGOs responsible for this page argue that police officers appearing on DV crime scenes still have not been given adequate training on putting these principles into practice.
Although the above Resolution issued by the Parliament set a deadline of March 31, 2004 for government officials to execute its tasks, much of the work was only partially done or not done at all. Legislation on the restraining order, for example, was finalized only in February 2006. (For more information about this law see separate item in the What’s New section.) As for the other tasks listed by the Resolution, most of them still have not been executed or have been started but were aborted later on: the first and only crisis center in the capital of Budapest was shut down after a couple of months, and its reception activities were taken over by a newly set-up telephone line called OKIT under the auspices of the then Ministry of Youth, Social, Family Affairs, and Equal Opportunities. As for shelters, none have been established. Instead, some extra beds were reserved in families’ homes for referrals from the OKIT hotline.
Documents cited:
Beijing Platform for Action
Criticism from NGO’s on government action based on the Resolution (in Hungarian)
National Police Headquarters (ORFK) Resolution (No. 13/2003. III. 27) (in Hungarian) Resolution of Parliament No. 45/2003. (IV. 16.) English version Hungarian version
Resolution of Parliament 115/2003. (X. 28.) (“National Crime-prevention Strategy” chapter 7.3.) (in Hungarian)
2004—2006 Government Program
Hungarian restraining order (English version)
Criticism from NGO’s on the final version of the restraining order