Statement of Hungarian International Lawyers against the Blatant Disregard for International Law
The Hungarian Government has recently initiated and implemented certain legislative and other measures that, in the opinion of the great majority of Hungarian international lawyers, clearly violate Hungary’s international legal obligations.
On 14 April 2025, the Hungarian Parliament adopted the 15th Amendment to the Fundamental Law (i.e. the Hungarian Constitution), which added a passage declaring that the right of the child for proper physical, mental and moral development ”takes precedence over all other fundamental rights except for the right to life” (Article XVI(1)). This provided the legal basis of the highest order to amend the law on the freedom of assembly (Act No LV of 2018) to ban any public assembly that could harm the ‘best interests of children’ and use facial recognition systems by the police to identify the participants. These measures were enacted with the explicit aim to ban Pride Marches, making Hungary the only country in the European Union (EU) that drastically infringes on the political rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
The 15th Amendment of the Fundamental Law also authorized changing the Hungarian citizenship law to allow for the “suspension of citizenship” (new Aricle G(3)). In parallel to this, a new legislative proposal was tabled in the Parliament that aims at suspending the citizenship of Hungarian citizens, who are also the citizens of other countries – except for the citizenship of the Member States of the EU or the European Free Trade Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) – up to 10 years. This new legal construction is unprecedented in international law and could lead to the expulsion of Hungarian citizens, who have, for instance, American, British, Canadian, or Israeli citizenship, if they are deemed to threaten Hungarian public order or national security.
Last but not least, on 2 April 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is subject to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), arrived in Hungary on an official invitation of the Hungarian Government. Even though Hungary has been a Member State to ICC since November 2001, the Government publicly declared that it would not execute the arrest warrant. During the international press conference, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that Hungary would initiate the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, making Hungary the only non-Member State in the EU.
These disturbing developments, coupled with the repeated reluctance of the Hungarian Government to condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine led to the adoption of the following statement, which is unprecedented in the history of the Hungarian international legal community:
11 April 2025
We, Hungarian international lawyers, observing with great concern the recent international and domestic events, guided by the best of our knowledge, professional convictions, and social responsibility, issue the following statement on certain current issues with international law relevance.
1. Bowing our heads before the victims who suffered horrors shocking the conscience of humanity, we declare our firm commitment to international efforts to eradicate the culture of impunity. We pay tribute to the historic results of all these efforts, which, at the end of the last century, led, inter alia, to the adoption of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court in The Hague, constituting a civilizational milestone. We emphasize that all States Parties must comply with their international obligations under the Rome Statute to hold perpetrators of the most serious international crimes accountable. Bearing in mind that withdrawing from the International Criminal Court is an option to all States Parties, we recall that any such measure weakens the possibilities for preventing the most egregious international crimes, international efforts to protect victims of crimes and hold perpetrators accountable, and may harm the international relations and reputation of the State concerned.
2. Recalling that our predecessors established the United Nations in the aftermath of the Second World War with the express objective to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, we are shocked to see armed conflicts erupting on the European continent and in many other parts of the world. Since Russia committed aggression against Ukraine first with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then the subsequent armed attack launched on 24 February 2022, we draw attention to the fact that a State that is the victim of an armed attack may legitimately request and receive external assistance in exercising its inherent right to self-defense. We also draw attention to the fact that the acquisition of territory by using force cannot be recognized as lawful, and that changing state borders is only possible through peaceful means, with the full consent of the States concerned, without any external coercion.
3. We also emphasize that our inalienable human rights, recognized after a long struggle, ensure the well-being of all of us. They protect the individual against potential abuses by authorities and strive to ensure living conditions worthy of a human being. Recalling that every person has the basic human right to return to their own country, we consider the ‘suspension of citizenship’ an unprecedented conception in international law, which, in our opinion, can easily be abused. The expulsion of a State’s own nationals from their country may, in some cases, constitute a form of exile and inhuman treatment, and appears to be contrary to human rights conventions ratified by the State concerned. Similarly, we recall that the essence of human rights, including the freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, which cannot be restricted by law, must not be less than the minimum level of protection required by international law.
I hereby sign the document ‘Statement of Hungarian international lawyers against the blatant disregard for international law’.
I consent to the processing and disclosure of the indicated data.
ÁDÁNY, Tamás; BALLER, Barbara; BERKES, Antal; CSAPÓ, Zsuzsanna; GANCZER, Mónika; HOFFMANN, Tamás; HORVÁTH, Valéria Eszter; JENEY, Petra; KAJTÁR, Gábor; KAPONYI, Erzsébet; KARDOS, Gábor; KECSKÉS, Gábor; KENDE, Tamás; KIRS, Eszter; KIS, Kelemen Bence; KISS, Amarilla; KOMANOVICS, Adrienne; LAMM, Vanda; LATTMANN, Tamás; MIHAJLOV, Dobromir; MOLNÁR, Tamás; NAGY, Boldizsár; NAGY, Noémi; ŐSZÉNÉ TAKÓ, Dalma; SULYOK, Gábor; SULYOK, Katalin; SZALAI, Anikó; SZAPPANYOS, Melinda; SZIEBIG, Orsolya Johanna; SZIGETI, D. Péter; TÓTH, Norbert; TÖRÖK, Csaba; VIZI, Balázs.