⭐What does it take to turn legal victories into real change? At our STARLIGHT 2.0 webinar, one message rang clear: 🗣️ Strategic litigation isn’t just about winning cases, it’s about reshaping systems, and amplifying silenced voices. That’s what our programme is built for 👇

Webinar recording 👉 bit.ly/4oabcbV Call for applications 👉 bit.ly/4o9Pmph 🤝 @hungarianhelsinki.bsky.social ky.social @hertieschool.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu

Congratulations to Miklós Haraszti, who is today awarded the 2025 Mark Palmer Prize by Freedom House @freedomhouse.bsky.social freedomhouse.org/article/free...

In Hungary, where TV, radio and print newspapers are dominated by pro-government messaging, YouTube has become a lifeline for independent journalism, attracting large youth audiences with witty and critical political content. @lilirutai.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

The next Article 7 hearing in respect of Hungary will be held on 21 October in the General Affairs Council. 9 Hungarian civil society organisations outlined key developments, priority concerns, and recommendations on 13 topics under scrutiny. Our new paper: helsinki.hu/en/wp-conten...

Crazy money spent on political ads on Meta/Facebook in Hungary 🇭🇺. Fidesz, the government and aligned actors have bottomless pockets. New EU rules on political ads should have a huge impact. From Lakmusz, the 🇭🇺 member of @edmo-eu.bsky.social lakmusz.hu/2025/10/06/a...

An extremely proud day for Hungarians. I just really hope Orbán’s proxies won’t launch a smear campaign, since Krasznahorkai is an outspoken critic of contemporary fascism, far-right politics, and Viktor Orbán himself.

The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Was lernen wir aus der Situation in Ungarn? Herausforderungen für die Zivilgesellschaft und ihre Widerstandsfähigkeit Heute bietet Ungarn wichtige Lehren für die europäischen Demokratien. My piece for @wienerforum.bsky.social demokratie.humanrights.at/was-lernen-w...

CJEU, State aid law New judgment: EU Commission unlawfully approved Hungarian State aid for nuclear power stations to be built by Russia - Commission failed to consider if EU public procurement law had been correctly applied

Hungary's Law-Making Process: Executive Dominance and Eroded Oversight ⚠️ Ineffective Public Consultations ⚠️ Parliamentary Process Instrumentalisation ⚠️ Perpetual Emergency Powers ⚠️ Opposition Marginalisation and Sanctions 📗 Read our new mapping paper: helsinki.hu/en/deficienc...

🎤Civil society leaders @neusvidal.bsky.social @martapardavi.bsky.social & @meyer-resende.bsky.social 🎤Legal advocate Rachel Cohen 🎤Journalist @candundar.bsky.social They'll discuss how we can build lasting networks of courage & support in times of democratic decline. Learn more here: bit.ly/4mGwJIv

www.ft.com/content/8678... Could Hungary’s faltering economy topple Orbán?

🎞️ 3 great independent documentaries to watch on 🇭🇺Hungary's backsliding (w ENG subs) 10 Years of Hate This documentary by Partizán traces how Orbán cemented his power once the refugee crisis had subsided, and how hate became the basic rule of his regime. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgA...

🎞️ 3 great independent documentaries to watch on 🇭🇺Hungary's backsliding (w ENG subs) 10 Years of Hate This documentary by Partizán traces how Orbán cemented his power once the refugee crisis had subsided, and how hate became the basic rule of his regime. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgA...

The European Commission just published the 2025 Rule of Law Report. Join us on Wednesday, 16 July at 14:00-15:00 in this EPC webinar in to discuss what the report’s new edition brings. With @martapardavi.bsky.social @mariaskora.bsky.social @ericmaurice.bsky.social @danielfreund.bsky.social

Budapest Pride 🏳️‍🌈🇭🇺 the ban backfired! Peaceful, safe, happy and huge! Organisers estimate a crowd over 200,000 people.

Ahead of the planned Pride 🏳️‍🌈 parade on June 28, let’s look at the situation in Hungary. It’s confusing: the LGBT+ Pride is banned but also, it’s going ahead. Here’s an explainer on the background and what we can expect 🧵

Many thousands of people are expected to participate in Budapest Pride 🏳️‍🌈 this Saturday, 28 June. We need people to be informed and to feel safe in exercising their right to freedom of assembly. So here’s our Q&Q guide: helsinki.hu/en/pride2025/

“Every time I got arrested our crowdfunding revenues would go up and I had to tell my CFO, this is not a sustainable business-model.” Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist @mariaressa.bsky.social @rappler.bsky.social at the World Justice Forum 2025 in Warsaw

33 embassies and 9 cultural institutes in Budapest join a statement to support the 30th Budapest Pride festival "As Budapest Pride celebrates [its 30th anniversary] milestone, we stand firm in our commitment to a future where all individuals can live freely, with love and PRIDE."

"People wake up in the morning and don’t know which of their fundamental rights are going to be taken away; that’s not a normal way to live." The legal battle for equal rights and freedom of assembly is heating up before Budapest Pride 🏳️‍🌈 on Saturday, 28 June. observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Hungary in 2025: Far-right groups can hold rallies promoting exclusionary messages, while the Supreme Court (Kúria) has upheld a police ban on a LGBT+ rights demonstration planned by 4 human rights groups. We continue the struggle for freedom of assembly and human rights. helsinki.hu/a-kuria-dont...

Vote delayed ≠ threat gone The proposed law targeting civil society, media, and democracy groups isn't dead—it's just on pause. The political intent to silence watchdogs remains crystal clear. lens.civicus.org/interview/th...

The Hungarian government’s relentless assault to weaken fundamental rights and rule of law protections and sincere cooperation is compelling the EU to transform Article 2 [of the EU Treaties] core values from aspirations into binding legal obligations. @garvanwalshe.org tvpworld.com/87237168/opi...

Postponing the final vote on the bill is not a retreat but merely a tactical delay. Protests by civic actors, media and businesses helped secure this temporary relief. The next months will be crucial to safeguard freedom of expression, association and assembly. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Time is needed to debate and identify the right methods of repression. www.reuters.com/business/med...

Next week’s final vote on the Starve&Strangle bill needs to be postponed due to internal debates, says Fidesz faction leader 444.hu/2025/06/04/k...

At this point, everybody is piling on the Hungarian govt to withdraw the bill that is sure to kill many civil society organisations doing crucial work to uphold democracy, minority rights and whatever is left of the system of checks and balances.

Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe's @coe.int Commissioner for Human Rights has asked Hungary’s Parliament not to adopt the law that stifles civil society. It breaches freedom of expression and association, privacy, fair trial rights and the ban on discrimination. www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

This brings us one step closer to a legal victory that is aimed at ensuring that the Pride march in Budapest will be held peacefully and lawfully on 28 June!

Many Hungarians protest Orban’s Starve and Strangle Law and for independent civil society and media in #Budapest and other cities. Protesters march in complete silence and mouth plastered showing the aim of Orban’s law.

SEE YOU AT BUDAPEST PRIDE ON 28 JUNE 🏳️‍🌈 After an initial police ban on a demonstration by 5 human rights NGOs and our successful court challenge, Budapest Police today acknowledged a demonstration for LGBTIQ+ rights in Budapest. This means Budapest Pride on 28/6 is ON. ℹ️ helsinki.hu/siker-szabad...

“Sometimes it might seem kind of tempting to say: ‘OK, we’re just going to make this compromise, and it might go away,’” András Kádár told @theguardian.com. “But ... we always hit new rock bottoms. It’s very important to fight every inch and bit of this process.” www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

The ECtHR could give prompt and effective protection via interim measures under its Rule39 in response to threats to democracy and the rule of law, such as the persecution of civil society, journalists, protesters, political opponents or judges.

@fra.europa.eu deep concern about new legislative developments in 🇭🇺 which can restrict the operating environment for civil society orgs … they reflect broader trends of democratic backsliding, shrinking civic space and challenges to fundamental rights across the EU. fra.europa.eu/en/news/2025...

At least 70 members of the European Parliament are planning on attending this year’s Pride celebrations in Budapest, Hungary, despite the nation’s ban against LGBTQ gatherings, officials have told CNN

The severe breaches of single market freedoms in the proposed HU law (i.e., banning the use of foreign revenues) would lead to some HU entities being banned from interacting with others in the EU, and vice versa. It would effectively lock them out of the free movement of goods, services and capital.

Budapest police decided to ban an LGBTQI march on June 1, refuting the claim by Hungary’s EU minister, János Bóka, that “there is no such thing in Hungary as a Pride ban”. 5 NGOs condemn the move as a politically motivated violation of the right to peaceful assembly. helsinki.hu/en/hungary-b...

18 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden) condemn the 🇭🇺 Pride ban & urge @ec.europa.eu to act. www.government.nl/documents/di...

The Starve & Strangle bill is advancing in the parliament in Hungary, with menacing and vague rules threatening the media, civil society and the business environment. It could be adopted in two weeks ... ⏳ I talked to ORF 🇦🇹 @orfnewsbot.bsky.social on.orf.at/video/142773...

Orbán agiert so radikal wie nie zuvor - mein Kommentar zu den Plänen, unabhängige Medien und NGOs in Ungarn zu kontrollieren www.sueddeutsche.de/meinung/unga...

We joined @liberties.eu's open letter to @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu, warning of the severe and existential threat to democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law in Hungary and in the EU as a whole. Already 320+ orgs from all over Europe have joined the call on the Commission to act fast.

As always, figure out if you're on the side of democracy or the side of authoritarianism, and make sure you know the difference - Viktor Orbán’s crackdown on free press does not only affect Hungary. It affects all of Europe 444.hu/2025/05/22/v...

Read how the mechanics and the impact of the 'Starve and Strangle law', a new bill in the 🇭🇺 parliament, would silence independent voices, civil society and media. We urge EU institutions and member states, the Council of Europe and the OSCE to act. Our briefing note ➡️ helsinki.hu/en/operation...

Civil society is under concentrated attack in the EU. Join us on 📅May 28, 3:00 pm CET / 9:00 am EDT & discuss with Katarína Batková, Márta Pardavi, Daniel Kelemen & yours truly the recent anti-NGO legislation from #Slovakia & #Hungary. RSVP 👇 www.gmfus.org/event/mushro... @gmfus.bsky.social

If this bill passes, it will not simply marginalise Hungary’s independent voices – it will extinguish them, we told @theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

A Threat to the Core: Why the New Hungarian Transparency Bill is an Attack on the Foundations of the European Union The first overview of the proposed law, by Prof Renáta Uitz on @verfassungsblog.de verfassungsblog.de/hungary-tran...

The threat to Hungarian civil society is existential. Hungary's new legislative proposal would give the government sweeping and authoritarian powers to punish organisations it deems a threat to national sovereignty. Our full reaction: buff.ly/my8TBdF

The Hungarian bill on "transparency in public life" [the Starve and Strangle Law] must not be adopted, say @coe.int PACE monitors. "As proposed, the bill would make it impossible for civil society organisations and independent media outlets to operate, let alone exist." pace.coe.int/en/news/9893...