This page provides information on the national frameworks to address hate crime in Hungary. The information provided here should be viewed alongside data presented on Hungary's hate crime report page.

Hate crime recording and data collection

The National Police Headquarters collects data on both bias motivation and the type of crime.

Data on crimes reported to the authorities are collected in the Unified System of Criminal Statistics of the Investigative Authorities and of Public Prosecution (ENyÜBS).

Hate crime data collection was improved in July 2018. Two new fields were introduced in the statistical form: a yes-no question on whether the crime is a hate crime, and if answered affirmatively, a compulsory question on the targeted protected characteristic (race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, other).

The ENyÜBS only contains data on the motivation and nature of hate crimes for known offenders. This means that it is only possible to record an offence as a hate crime when the offender is known.

The new hate crime field should be completed in the following cases:
a)    Offences motivated by hatred as listed in the criminal code: Violation of Freedom of Conscience and Religion (Art. 215); Violence Against a Member of the Community (Art. 216); Incitement Against a Community (Art. 332); and Open Denial of Nazi Crimes and Communist Crimes (Art. 333).
b)    Offences listed in the criminal code and committed with a qualifying reason related to membership of a community: Homicide (Art. 160 (1) (c)); Battery (Art. 164 (4) (a) and (6) (a)); Violation of Personal Freedom (Art.  194 (2) (b)); Defamation (Art. 226. (2) (a)); Unlawful Detention (Art.304. (2) (a)); and Insult of Subordinate (Art. 449. (2) (a)).
c)    Offences committed with a prejudicial intent against a community, i.e., where the specific characteristics of the case clearly indicate that the motive for the offence is hatred. Such offences include, for example, robbery, theft, public nuisance, contempt of court, criminal damage, incitement to war, insulting a national symbol, incitement to violate the law or the authority, threatening to cause public danger, disorderly conduct, and harassment. As in point (b) above, the motive for the offence can be established on the basis of the characteristics of the case.

The affirmative answer to this box refers not only to the actual but also to the perceived or presumed membership of a population group targeted in the offence.
The follow-up question on the "Nature of hatred" involved in the crime should be completed by indicating the following groups:
a)    National group: A national group is a group of nationalities living on the territory of the country.
b)    Racial group: a group of people distinguished by anthropological characteristics ("races").
c)    Religious group: a group of people who share the same religious beliefs. They do not need to form a religious community with some form of self-government to practise their religion.
d)    Disability: a person with a permanent sensory, communication, physical, intellectual or psychosocial impairment, or any accumulation of such impairments, which, in interaction with environmental, social and other significant barriers, limits or prevents their effective and equal participation in society (as defined in Act XXVI of 1998 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Ensuring their Equal Opportunities).
e)    Gender identity: a person's gender identity.
f)    Sexual orientation: refers to the individual's sexual activity.
g)    Other population group: any perceived or real group membership other than those listed above.
    
Police have specific instructions on recording 'prejudice indicators', including a list of potential indicators (ORFK Instruction 30/2019 (VII. 18.)) to help determine whether a crime was partly or wholly motivated by prejudice. Indicators do not in themselves prove a bias motive; however, if a single indicator is present, the investigation and the assessment of the offence must also include the bias motive. The list of indicators is not a checklist, i.e., not all indicators need to be present in order to assume that a hate crime has been committed.
In the development of the Instruction, the Working Group on Hate Crime (GYEM) conducted consultations with state institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs). In May 2023, the completed list of indicators was presented to representatives of the ORFK, including the national co-ordinator of the Hate Crime Unit. The ORFK representatives undertook to incorporate the list into the training system of the Police Hate Crime Unit.
 
The prosecutor's office does not have separate records on hate crimes. Criminal data are collected under the Unified Investigation Authority and Prosecutor's Office Criminal Statistics System (ENyÜBS). ENyÜBS contains data provided by the Ministry of the Interior and the General Prosecutor's Office, including on criminal proceedings conducted by the police, the National Tax and Customs Board and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and is supplemented by data from the accusation phase of the prosecution. ENyÜBS is a follow-up statistical system containing statistical data on registered criminal offences, as data are registered in the system once the investigation is complete. 
    
The Prosecution Service collects hate crime data on both bias motivation and type of crime with the help of the "yes/no" hate crime tab and a tab for indicating the "nature of hatred" in ENyÜBS. The "nature of hatred" tab reflects the protected characteristics listed in Article 8 of Act CXXV of 2003 on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equal Opportunities.

The National Office for the Judiciary collects data only about the type of crime and includes offences with a hate motivation. 

Hate crime victim support

While Hungary has a general victim support system, there is no state support provided specifically to hate crime victims. There are no legal provisions specifically related to hate crime victims.

Victims of hate crimes can use the services of the general Victim Support Service, which is integrated with district and government county offices. There also exists a network of victim support centres, but these are limited to the four largest cities. Victims can obtain general psychological support, basic legal counselling, free interpretation, and financial compensation. In 2021, an opt-out system of victim support was introduced for victims of several types of crimes. Victim support services automatically contact victims unless they explicitly refuse to have their personal data shared. Hate crime victims are not covered by this policy, unless they fall into one of the categories mentioned in the law (namely, violent crimes, sexual abuse, harassment, robbery, and theft).

Medical support is provided through regular emergency services. There are victim protection specialists in law enforcement and the courts, but they do not provide specific support to hate crime victims. The Ministry of Justice operates a victim support helpline available at all times. General support to victims is also provided by the White Ring Association – a civil society organization (CSO) that is funded by the state. There are no quality standards related to the provision of victim support services.

Some CSOs provide specialized support to hate crime victims, but their services are not integrated into the overall victim support scheme. They are funded either by the European Commission or international private donors and do not receive state financing. The specialized service providers operate mainly in the capital and have limited outreach in the regions. Such providers offer legal assistance, psychological and social support, and also accompany victims to the police station or court hearings.

The procedure for conducting individual needs assessments (INAs) is institutionalized. However, the INA forms used by police do not specifically relate to hate crime victims. There is no guidance on how to use the INA form, but some police officers have been trained on the matter by CSOs. Through an INA, a victim may be granted the status of a victim in need of special treatment, and thus requires support. Both the public Victim Support Service and the network of victim support centres operate only upon victims' requests, and victims may need to prove that criminal proceedings have been initiated. The police are obliged to inform victims about the support offered by public providers. There is no systematic exchange of information between the police, public victim support services and specialized support providers. 

The police have a hate crime protocol that requires the sensitive and respectful treatment of hate crime victims, but there is no guidance on applying this principle in practice. There are special interviewing rooms at police stations for victims in need of special treatment. There is also an Independent Police Complaint Board, and victims can turn to the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights or the Equal Treatment Authority if their treatment is discriminatory or degrading due to their membership in a particular social group.

The police have also developed measures to ensure that the principles and practices for the sensitive and respectful treatment of hate crime victims are implemented. In the case of suspected hate incidents, the police officer is required to take or initiate measures within their remit as a matter of urgency in order to defuse a potentially dangerous situation and prevent the commission of bias crimes. In the presence of those involved in hate incidents or hate crimes, police are required to refrain from statements either denying or confirming that a hate crime has occurred.     

All victims have the right to submit evidence, file motions and observations, address the court in the course of closing arguments, attend the trial and other procedural acts, inspect case documents, be informed about the rights and obligations in a criminal proceeding by the court, the prosecution service, or the investigating authority, seek legal remedy, make use of assistance of an aide, enforce a civil claim and act as a private prosecuting party or a substitute private prosecuting party. Victims are also entitled to make a statement, at any time, regarding any physical or mental harm or pecuniary loss they suffered as a result of the criminal offence, and whether they wish the defendant to be convicted and punished. Victims must be informed about major developments in their case and judicial authorities are obliged to ensure the information is understood, including through the use of interpreters. 

All vulnerable victims of crime can make use of protection measures when testifying in court, such as restricting the right of any party at the court proceedings, confidential treatment of personal data, using video conference equipment, facilitating involvement of a person of trust, or taking into account the personal needs of a victim in planning and performing procedural acts. They also have the right to a separate waiting area, to be accompanied during the trial and to receive a copy of the trial records. State compensation is limited to violent intentional crimes, but victims may act as private parties and claim compensation from the perpetrator (or the state, if impossible to execute from the perpetrator's property) in a civil procedure. 

Hate crime capacity building

Participants in basic police training acquire knowledge about hate crimes and how to support victims before they enter service. Specific elements focus on anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes, as well as hate crimes targeting LGBTQ communities.

The training on hate crimes is part of the training structure of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ). The training has been integrated into the training programme for judges and court staff. Based on the training plan issued by the President of the NOJ, the Training Department of the Hungarian Academy of Justice of the NOJ is responsible for the implementation of the training. On the CooSpace electronic training platform, known as Knowledge Repository and operated by the NOJ, judges, assistant judges and trainee judges, regardless of their division, have free access to video presentations and e-learning materials on the subject. The following relevant training elements on hate crimes can be listed in this database: 

• Hate crime in general;
• Incitement against a member of the community;
• Issues of sentencing, with particular reference to specific rules of conduct;
• The concept of the Holocaust in international instruments;
• Investigation of hate crimes;
• The background to hate crimes and the experience of Strasbourg court proceedings;
• Experience of hate crimes’ criminal proceedings;
• Substantive and evidentiary issues of hate crimes;
• The prohibition of racial discrimination in international and EU law, transposition of the prohibition into Hungarian law; and
• Equal treatment legislation in EU law.

Prosecutors, junior prosecutors and trainee prosecutors receive regular training on hate crimes, organized by the Division for Continuous Training of the Department for Human Resources and Continuous Training of the Office of the Prosecutor General and by the Hungarian Prosecution Training Centre. No specific courses on the subject have been organized, but recurrent annual training and further training courses on how to recognise and respond to hate crime are part of the annual training plan, which targets around 30 different training courses. 

The Hungarian Prosecution Training Centre's training courses for trainee and junior prosecutors regularly cover hate crimes, the latest decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the activities of the Working Group against Hate Crime. The Office of the Prosecutor General pays special attention to providing up-to-date information on hate crime and victim protection issues, as well as the European Court of Human Rights' decisions on hate crimes, when organizing training courses, academic competitions, conferences and cooperation with partner institutions.