Activities of Angelika MLINAR related to 2017/2131(INL)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the situation in Hungary (pursuant to the European Parliament resolution of 17 May 2017)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the introduction in Hungary of restrictive regulations and policies affecting civil society in general has also significantly hindered women's rights NGOs such as PATENT Association, NANE Association, both providing unique services for victims of gender-based and domestic violence, and the Hungarian Women's Lobby; whereas amongst the negative direct implications for civil society organisations working to advance women’s rights are the risk of being excluded from tax and other benefits;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas although Hungary has a strong national health system and public health insurance, and despite the recommendations of various UN treaty monitoring bodies, the cost of modern contraception is wholly excluded from Hungary's health scheme, offering no coverage or reimbursement for any women or for any method of contraception, which poses an obstacle to modern family planning;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and whereas those values, which are common to the Member States and are values to which all Member States have freely subscribed, constitute the foundation of the rights enjoyed by those living in the Union;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas any clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU does not concern solely the individual Member State where the risk materialises but has an impact on the other Member States, mutual trust between them and on the very nature of the Union and its citizens’ rights;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the emergency pill or morning after pill remains available upon prescription only, against the recommendation from the European Commission that emergency contraceptive can be sold over-the-counter since 2015;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas Article 7 , paragraph 1, TEU constitutes a preventive phase endowing the Union with the capacity to intervene in the event of a clear risk of a serious breach of common values; whereas such preventive action provides for a dialogue with the Member State concerned and is intended to avoid possible sanctions;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas undocumented migrant women are not entitled to access any health care that is not emergency care, resulting in them being prevented from obtaining ordinary prenatal care and frequently are only able to obtain medical assistance once labour has begun;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas despite concerns of the CEDAW Committee, which called on the government to ensure access to safe abortion without subjecting women to mandatory counselling and a medically unnecessary waiting period, this legal precondition is still in practice, along with stigmatization practices employed by the medical counsellors; whereas medical abortion is not available and whereas the Hungarian government has never responded to requests to justify its decision to prohibit the EU-wide registered drug;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Bf. whereas the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)'s Concluding observations from 2013 called on Hungary, amongst other recommendations, to review its family and gender-equality policies to ensure that the former do not restrict the full enjoyment by women of their right to non- discrimination and equality, to ensure appropriate remedies for victims of discrimination on the grounds of intersecting factors and to systematically carry out gender impact assessments of current and proposed laws and ensure that the new legislative framework does not bring a regression with its implementation; whereas these recommendations to Hungary have not been duly implemented by any government up to now, and whereas no implementation plan has been elaborated for these recommendations;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital B g (new)
Recital B g (new)
Bg. whereas harmful gender stereotypes and assumptions about women’s roles in society are widespread in Hungarian society, including discrimination on grounds of sex; whereas the Hungarian government takes a regressive approach to gender issues, and uses the promotion of ‘family mainstreaming’ – replacing gender mainstreaming – in the context of a desired demographic increase , and misinterprets and misuses the concepts of ‘gender’ and ‘gender equality’;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital B h (new)
Recital B h (new)
Bh. whereas gender-based and domestic violence is widespread in Hungary; whereas at least 50 women die every year to the hands of their relatives or partners; whereas hundreds of thousands of women are regularly abused in their families; whereas according to2015 data from the European Institute for Gender Equality, 27.7% of women in Hungary have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since age 15; Whereas the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found in 2015 that 21% of women in Hungary have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner since the age of15, and 6% in the past 12 months; whereas according to women’s rights organisations, the perpetrator is in 95 per cent of the cases of violence a man, and the victim is a women or girl; whereas many women are reluctant to report abuse since they are being confronted with a hostile environment in police stations and courts; whereas law enforcement officers and the judiciary are largely ineffective in pursuing and prosecuting abusers, which deters victims of violence from reporting and fosters distrust in authorities; whereas there is a culture of victim-blaming from both authorities and social circles;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital B i (new)
Recital B i (new)
Bi. whereas Hungary signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) in 2014, but has not yet ratified it; whereas progress on the ratification has stalled since February 2017;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Recital B j (new)
Recital B j (new)
Bj. whereas Hungary does not have a holistic strategy or action plan on preventing and combating violence against women, although legislation was introduced that criminalized domestic violence in 2013; whereas the legislation is insufficient (f.e. sexual violence is not included in the offense of domestic violence) and problematic in its language and implementation;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – point 1 a (new)
Annex I – point 1 a (new)
(1a) According to Article 49 TEU, accession to the Union requires respect for and the promotion of the values referred to in Article 2. The accession of Hungary was a voluntary act based on national sovereignty, with a broad consensus across the Hungarian political spectrum.
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – point 4
Annex I – point 4
(4) In its resolution of 17 May 2017 on the situation in Hungary, the European Parliament stated that the current situation in Hungary represents a clear risk of a serious breach of the values referred to in Article 2 TEU. and justified the triggering of the procedure provided for in Article 7, paragraph 1, TEU;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – point 5
Annex I – point 5
(5) A wide range of actors at the national, European and international level, have repeatedly expressed their deep concerns about the situation of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, includingIn its 2003 Communication on Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union1 a, the Commission cites the reports of international organisations and NGOs as sources of information enabling respect for common values to be monitored. In this regard, the Commission cites the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE and the NGOs Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights. These bodies and NGOs and also the EU institutions and bodies of the Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations (UN), as well as numerous civil society organisations.are among the players at the national, European and international level which have repeatedly expressed their deep concerns about the situation of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary. __________________ 1a COM(2003) 606
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Hungarian government to implement the recommendations of the UN CEDAW Committee issued in 2013 without further delay and to elaborate and update its stalled "National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality – Goals and Objectives 2010–2021" or to replace it by a new Gender Equality Strategy, ensuring concrete deadlines and responsible actors, and providing funding and monitoring mechanisms for its effective implementation; and to consult throughout the process with women’s rights NGOs;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recommends to introduce effective legislative measures – such as quotas as temporary special measures – to increase women’s participation in political life and decision-making;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Is concerned about the impact of Hungary’s Law on the Transparency of Organisations Receiving Foreign Funds on civil society organisations that receive funds from the EU, EEA and third countries and on the future functioning of non-governmental organisations, which include many women's rights organisations, which are crucial for the functioning and progress of society since they provide services, professional and public awareness raising and capacity building as well as advocate for and contribute to legislative and policy changes to improve gender equality;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Urges the Hungarian government to end the harassment of civil society organisations that work to promote and improve democracy and human rights issues and to repeal the laws that stigmatize non-governmental organisations that use foreign funding; encourages the government to instead use the expertise and experiences of women’s rights NGOs when planning and implementing legislative and policy measures in the field of gender equality and women's rights, and to make adequate use of the established consultative forums in this regard;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – point 10
Annex I – point 10
(10) In recent years the Hungarian Government has extensively used national consultations, including one on migration and terrorism launched in May 2015. On 27 April 2017, the Commission pointed out that the national consultation “Let’s stop Brussels” contained several claims and allegations which were factually incorrect or highly misleading. Nevertheless, the Hungarian Government subsequently continued to have recourse to similar consultations.
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that violence against women in Hungary, as in all other Member States, is a persistent structural violation of human rights; calls on the Hungarian government to ratify the Istanbul Convention as soon as possiblwithout limitations and as soon as possible and commit to incorporating its provisions into domestic law, an important step to change the cultural norm of domestic abuse and protecting women and girls victims of violence;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Hungarian government to amend the Criminal Code so the definition of domestic violence includes all acts of physical violence, including physical harm, bodily injury or assault; sexual violence; stalking and harassment; the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault; and coercive control, i.e. psychological and economic violence that is part of a pattern of domination through intimidation, isolation, degradation, and deprivation, as well as physical assault; to amend the Criminal Code and Act on Restraining Orders to expand the scope of domestic violence victims to include and protect all victims, including who do not cohabitate or have children with their abuser, or not considered as relatives (e.g. intimate partners), and expand the period of the ban on contact for as long as needed; to amend criminal and procedural legislation to ensure that domestic violence constitutes a crime and is subject to public prosecution with penalties;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Strongly recommends to train law enforcement officers and the judiciary on best practice standards on responding to domestic violence, in cooperation with victims support organizations and in line with international human rights standards; provide adequate trainings and give due attention to the role of medical staff in the prevention of and response to domestic violence; and increase the capacity of health care personnel for this purpose;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Calls on the Commission to continue its dialogue with the Hungarian government, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, and to address its concerns, and in particular to clarify misleading interpretations of the Istanbul Convention on the definition of gender- based violence and the definition of gender in Article 3(c) and (d), in accordance with the General Remarks of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Urges the Hungarian government to ensure access to affordable contraceptive methods by (partially) covering the costs of modern contraceptive methods under its public health insurance and to improve access to emergency contraception by eliminating the prescription requirement;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls on the Hungarian government to remove barriers in the access to safe abortion services such as the unavailability of medical abortion, biased counselling and the mandatory waiting period requirements;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – point 20 a (new)
Annex I – point 20 a (new)
(20a) According to the anti-corruption report published by the Commission in 20141 b, corruption is perceived as widespread (89%) in Hungary. According to the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International, Hungary has lost 10 points in six years, making it one of the lowest ranked states in the European Union. Hungary is one of the greatest recipients of EU funds and more than half of public investment comes from EU funds. Hungary, however, has refused to participate in the European Public Prosecutor's Office set up to combat infringements affecting the Union budget. __________________ 1b COM(2014) 38
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Believes that the current situation in Hungary represents a clear risk of a serious breach of the values referred to in Article 2 TEU and warrants the launch of the procedure set out in Article7(1) TEU;