COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF HUNGARY

HR/CRC/98/20
20 May 1998

COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF HUNGARY

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning said Hungary's unique institutions could make the country a model in the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but it called for further efforts to protect young people.

In preliminary comments and recommendations issued following the consideration of a report from that country, the panel noted that Hungary was undergoing a difficult transition. Although the Government realized that children must not be the losers in that process, in some cases they had become just that, the Committee concluded, adding that was the case not only in Hungary but also in other eastern European countries in transition. The Committee called for further efforts to harmonize national legislation with the provisions of the Convention. There was especially a need for a new law for a juvenile justice system, considering that Hungary had 4,000 juvenile offenders, the experts said.

Concerning gypsy Roma children, the experts underlined the need to translate the Convention into the languages of minority and ethnic groups. The Roma people had to be part of the process of developing the society, and there could not be real democracy without solving their problems in a comprehensive way, the experts commented.

The final recommendations and conclusions of the Committee on the report of Hungary will be presented at the end of this spring session on 5 June.

The Committee resumes its work at 3 p.m. to start consideration of a report from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Discussion

Committee experts noted that Hungary had participated in the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. There were worrying reports concerning children being used in trafficking across the border, said one. Had Hungary fulfilled its plan of action regarding that issue? Was there a connection between child prostitution and sexual or other abuse in the family? Was there a plan to introduce legislation to make clients liable before the courts when using children for sexual uses?

Concerning children in conflict with the law, an expert said there was no independent juvenile justice system in Hungary. When and how would one be created, and in the meantime, how were juveniles under 18 who had committed a crime treated by police and judges? If they were sentenced, were juveniles imprisoned in adult prisons? Why was community service not an alternative measure to prison? Did the past records of children follow them all their lives, or were they stricken after rehabilitation? What were the rules concerning the monitoring of prisons? How were children under the age of 14 treated when they committed a crime?

Another expert said drug addiction and alcohol consumption were problems in Hungary and in most eastern European countries. Had this phenomenon been studied, and what preventive measures had been taken? Were there enough experts to deal with curative and preventive rehabilitation? How were rehabilitation services organized?

An expert asked if there were projects to integrate children living and working in the streets. It was also pointed out that it was possible in Hungary for families to put up a child for adoption before he or she was born. How did this affect the rights of the child? Some families gave up their children for financial gain, not caring about how these children would be treated. How could this be monitored? What was the situation of mentally disabled children? Were there special professionals on adolescent mental health? Had the Convention been translated into the languages of minorities? How serious was the problem of child labour in Hungary?

The delegation, led by ISTVAN KONCZ, Titular State Secretary and Secretary of the Coordination Council for Children and Young People in the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, said war had been declared on child prostitution. The Coordination Council in its meeting in December had discussed the issue in detail. Hungary's plan of action was aimed at making legislation more strict concerning child prostitution and pornography as a starting point to take concrete measures. Educational and preventive measures were carried out in schools and the mass media; international cooperation in this field was also very important. Hungary's Research Group had presented 48 studies on children last year, 12 dealing in part or fully with the issue of child prostitution.
According to these studies, the two main causes for child prostitution were the social situation of the parents and the market. The State was helping families with social assistance, but the issue of the market was more complicated because it was an international one. Sexual abuse of children within the family was another reason for prostitution. In order to decrease prostitution and to protect children, the Government would take steps to prohibit prostitution close to schools or other places frequented by young persons. Moreover, criminal law strongly punished solicitation. Prostitution and the right of children to refuse to participate in it was discussed within the national curriculum of schools under the topic of human rights.

The delegation said the National Health Institute led preventive programmes and rehabilitation for drug abuse and alcoholism accross the country. Non-governmental organizations and different religious institutions were also active in this process. There were 110,000 young drug users in Hungary, but unfortunately there were only 140 departments within the hospital system which were capable of handling drug dependency. There was, however, a broad system of rehabilitation opportunities after medical care. There was also a drug alarm system which raised money through concerts and other means. For the past eight years, Parliament had carried out an intense discussion on how to handle the problems of drug abuse and alcoholism.

Street children were not a phenomenon in Hungary, the delegation said. There had been a problem of children who spent their holidays on the streets because their parents worked. Before 1989, that had not been an issue because schools guaranteed summer camps to keep children busy during the vacation. That system had been suspended from 1990 to 1996, thus creating a problem; however, it had been reactivated in 1997. There was also a street worker system carried out by the Government.

On the issue of children given up for adoption before they were born, the delegation said there was strong feeling against abortion in Hungary. Adoption was one solution, as was the incubator system, whereby unwanted new babies were placed in incubators outside of hospitals. These were last-resort measures to decrease abortions and mortality of babies. A mother was allowed to change her mind about giving up a child for adoption after it was born. The formal adoption of a child was a long and severe process which only started after birth. Once an adoption was finalized, it could not be reversed. The big dilemma was to determine what was the best interest of the child. On one hand, authorities had to be careful; on the other, a prompt solution for the child was in his or her best interests.

The delegation said the Convention had not been translated into the languages of national minorities. It was available in German and Romanian, but not in the Roma language; there were three different Roma languages, which caused a dilemma for the Government. Not more than 67 per cent of Roma children finished primary school. Only 17 per cent of Roma children entered secondary school, and fewer than 1 per cent made it to higher education. The Government was implementing a determined support system for Roma children in all levels of schooling.

Hungary was proud of its after-care rehabilitation network for children, said the officials. Thanks to this network, which was supported by the Government, many young former offenders worked and had their own professional network and non-governmental organization.

Although Hungary had no special juvenile judicial system, every court had specialized judges who dealt with juvenile cases, the delegation said. These courts were composed of a lawyer, a judge and two lay judges, one of whom had to be a teacher. There were also specialized departments in prosecutors' offices and police departments to deal with children. Juveniles who were sentenced to deprivation of liberty were not sent to adult prisons but to specialized institutions, juvenile prisons and correctional institutions designed to emphasize education and rehabilitation. As for sentencing without trial, it was designed in a way to ensure respect for all the guarantees of a fair trial; it only took place where evidence was clear and the offender acknowledged commission of the crime. It never led to deprivation of liberty, only to suspended sentences or other measures. Juveniles were always represented by lawyers. Around 25 per cent of juvenile cases were disposed of without
trial, and this was mainly aimed at making the system quicker.

There was an insufficient number of probation officers because the work was not easy, the delegation continued. The Government tried to encourage men and women to become social workers, but unfortunately, there were still too few of them. Public records of juveniles were kept for a certain period of time, but it was much shorter than for adults and depended on the type of crime committed.

The minimum age of work for children was 16 because education was obligatory until that age, the delegation indicated. If a child did not go to school, authorities investigated, and if it was found that he or she was working illegally, necessary measures were taken. This helped the monitoring of child labour, which was not a widespread phenomenon in the country.


Preliminary Observations and Conclusions

In preliminary observations and conclusions, the Committee said that its impression of the dialogue and the report of Hungary in principle was a positive one with the exception that the volume and the details in the initial report were a bit 'modest'. Hungary was in transition, which was not a simple or easy period and caused difficulties. However, although the Government realized that children must not be the losers as they had not participated in the decision-making process, in some cases the children had become the losers. This was the case not only in Hungary but also in other eastern European countries in transition. The Committee praised the efforts already undertaken by the Government in the field of human rights and children's affairs. This was the right time
for Hungary to implement the Convention properly: the country was undergoing democratization, and the Convention was also about democratization, expressing in a holistic way the human dignity of children and mankind.

Positive aspects in the report included the fact that the transformations were ongoing under the auspices of the Council of Europe and the European Union, which provided additional mechanisms. The Committee hoped this would mean that positive results and improvements would be seen and carried out very quickly. Other positive aspects included the ratification of the Convention without provisions and the setting of the mandatory age of education at 16 and of conscription at 18.

Further efforts to harmonize national legislation with the provisions of the Convention were needed, the Committee continued. Civil rights and freedoms did not seem to face many problems, although much more could be done about teaching children and others about the Convention. The Government had good plans in this respect, including making education in children's rights part of the school curriculum. However, more attention should be given to the teaching and training of judges, law enforcement officials, social workers and others who dealt with children.

The Committee experts said police in Hungary had always been very tough and continued to be so. Criminality in Hungary was on the rise, and punishment meted out was very tough, including for children. The principal system of health and welfare was a good one but scarcity of resources limited the implementation of the provisions of the Convention. More attention must be paid in legislation and everyday practices to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention concerning non-discrimination, taking into consideration the views of children, and the participation of children in the promotion of their own rights. There were some shortcomings in the education system and cultural activities, but in principle they were adequate. Concerning special protection measures, the Committee underlined the problems of child prostitution, drug addiction and alcohol consumption and said one of the ways to deal with them was to recognize non-governmental organizations as equal partners of the Government.

The Committee said Hungary would one day be able to be a model State concerning the implementation of the provisions of the Convention because even today, it had two very important and unique structures: the Coordination Council for Children and Young People which was headed by the Prime Minister and included seven Ministers; and the Reconciliation Council for Children and Youth Interests where children and non-governmental organizations participated in decision making with the Government.

The Committee also recommended additional work to improve knowledge of the Convention. There had been efforts to disseminate the provisions of the Treaty, but they still had not reached parts of the society, especially the Roma children. The translation of the Convention into the languages of minority and ethnic groups was very important. The importance of monitoring the situation of Roma children was also underlined -- the Roma people had to be part of the process of developing the society, and there could not be real democracy without solving their problems in a comprehensive way.

The Committee was concerned with 'gaps' in Hungarian legislation and said there was a need to harmonize domestic legislation with the Convention. There was especially a need for a new law for a juvenile justice system considering that Hungary had 4,000 juvenile offenders. Rehabilitation procedures also needed to be further considered.