In a letter published on Wednesday 3 May but dated 26 April last, Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe (COE) makes a “robust” appeal to the Hungarian National Assembly to “reject” the draft bill on the transparency of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that receive funding from abroad.
This letter was addressed to the President of the Hungarian Parliament, László Kövér. It is particularly critical of the “stigmatising rhetoric” used by certain national political leaders that treat NGOs as “foreign agents” seeking to influence public opinion.
Nils Muiznieks points out that, “The stigmatising or delegitimising of the work undertaken by charities funded from abroad” has been denounced as a “worrying practice” by the OSCE and the CO4’s Venice Commission in their joint guidelines on the freedom of association. Mr Muiznieks also draws attention to the recommendation made by the COE’s Committee of Ministers.
Dated 2007 and focusing on the status of NGOs in Europe, this text explains that organisations must be, “free to request and receive funds, not only from public bodies in their own country but also from institutional or private donors from another country or multilateral bodies”.
The jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is also mentioned by the Commissioner for Human Rights. This is because this jurisprudence is, “reluctant to except the foreign origins of an NGO as a legitimate reason for differentiated treatment”. In a reference to an opinion from the Venice Commission issued in 2014 on the subject of Russia, the Commissioner emphasises that, “the same reasoning a fortiori applies to funding”.
Nils Muiznieks warns that failure to respect the new requirements would lead to fines being imposed and the possible dissolution of the NGO by way of simplified procedures and could even undermine the very essence of the right of association as contained within the European Convention of Human Rights.
This is even more of a risk given that the text presented to the Hungarian National Assembly does not explain whether NGOs would be able to contest this dissolution. He points out that as it currently stands, reasons for dissolution have to be strictly limited to three international standards: bankruptcy; a lengthy period of inactivity or serious misconduct. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)