In 2020, the Prosecutor's Office of Budapest District VI. and VII. pressed hate crime charges [crime of violence against a member of community committed by carrying a deadly weapon (Section 216, Subsection (3) of the Hungarian Criminal Code)] against a man who, after being asked to leave a store due to closing hours by an owner of Chinese origin, threatened the latter using racist anti-Chinese expressions. The perpetrator also pulled out a knife and threatened a customer, who stood up in defence of the store owner, and chased the owner outside of the store.
The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) published relevant recommendations in its "Report from the thirty-ninth session: Compilation on Hungary."
ODIHR notes Hungary's progress in prosecuting hate crimes effectively. However, based on the available information, it observes that the law enforcement agencies of Hungary have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Hungary would benefit from reviewing the existing legal framework in order to ensure that bias motivation can be effectively acknowledged and appropriate penalties imposed on the perpetrators.
ODIHR recalls that in the Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States have committed to promptly investigating hate crimes and ensuring that the motives of those convicted of hate crimes are acknowledged. To that end, the law enforcement must, first of all, record the bias motivation of hate crimes. In the Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States have also committed to enacting specific, tailored legislation to combating hate crimes, providing for effective penalties that take into account the gravity of such crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Hungary in meeting the relevant commitments through provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording an data collection, as well as providing further resources and tailored legislative advice.
In addition to incidents summarized below, this graph includes 2 hate incidents reported by Kantor Center as statistics.