April 4, 2013
Hungary’s government rejects the “groundless criticism” made by two UN rapporteurs in connection with recent constitutional amendment concerning homelessness, the Foreign Ministry told MTI on Wednesday.
The government will prepare a detailed response to the concerns voiced by the rapporteurs, it said.
The rapporteurs have criticised the amendment for “criminalising the homeless” who they estimated numbered about 30,000 in the country.
Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the Hungarian government has institutionalised making homelessness a crime and advanced their stigmatisation. She added that the amendment was fit to stoke up prejudice and prevented homeless people from practising their basic rights.
Raquel Rolnik, special rapporteur on adequate housing, said the part of the amendment which bans sleeping outdoors “goes against the human rights of equality and non-discrimination” for rough sleepers and people with diminished means.
Rolnik said Hungary lacked adequate shelters and the government had no contingency for providing for the 30,000 people living on the streets.
The Foreign Ministry said the Hungarian government has taken several measures to help the homeless and fight poverty, which are global problems to be addressed by all governments, including the Hungarian one.
The capacity of shelters already exceeds the total number of the homeless, it said.
The state and local councils make efforts to provide shelter for every homeless as this is their constitutional duty, the ministry said, adding that the government is ready to cooperate with the UN’s human rights network, including the rapporteurs, and has readily consulted with the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner on Hungarian legislation.
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party earlier also rejected the rapporteurs’ criticism, insisting the new constitutional amendments encouraged care for the homeless and was in line with European parliamentary norms.
Fidesz said in a statement sent to MTI that while in 2006-2010 up to 130 people froze to death on the streets of Budapest, the government has since reduced this number to a minimum.
New shelters opened in the capital, raising capacity by 700, and nearly one billion forints (EUR 3.32m) of funding is available for homeless care. Other countries in Europe also apply bans on living on the streets, such as Belgium and the Czech Republic, the statement said.
It added that the new criminal code has created a new category for punishing the humiliation of vulnerable people.
The rapporteurs urged the government to withdraw the amendments as they had been made in little time with no chance for a referendum on these issues.
Sepulveda and Rolnik had also reported on Hungary’s homeless last December.
Read the UN Special Rapporteur’s press release here.
Source: The All Hungary Media Group
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