health care insurance or services. Without employment, they can only benefit from basic
public health care services, the scope of which is very limited.39
Recommendations
39
35.
The co-submitting organisations note that despite some positive steps taken by Hungary
in recent years to improve its legal framework concerning the prevention of
statelessness and the protection of stateless persons, there are still important
shortcomings in the legislative framework and the practice of authorities.
36.
The Human Rights Council has stated that “[t]he second and subsequent cycles of the
review should focus on, inter alia, the implementation of the accepted
recommendations and the developments of the human rights situation in the State
under review”.40 Hungary has not accepted, or has accepted but failed to adequately
address various relevant recommendations under the first cycle. The recommendations
below, build on previous state recommendations but also introduce new
recommendations related to protecting the human rights of stateless persons and the
right to acquire a nationality for all persons in Hungary:
I.
The domicile condition should be eliminated in order to bring Hungary’s law in
full compliance with Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, by
ensuring that all children born in Hungary, who would otherwise be stateless,
acquire Hungarian nationality automatically at birth.
II.
The conditions related to the acquisition of Hungarian nationality by declaration
should be modified to comply with international law. The requirement of the
parents having a domicile at the time of the birth and the requirement of the
child living in the country with a domicile for 5 years should both be eliminated.
Furthermore, the acquisition of Hungarian nationality through declaration
should be permissible at least until the 21st (instead of the 19th) birthday of the
applicant, but ideally, with no age limit prescribed.
III.
Statistics related to the application of the declaration provision should be
maintained and published. This statistical information should include
disaggregated data on the number of claims submitted, as well as the number
of positive and negative decisions.
IV.
Transparency in naturalisation procedures should be increased. Grounds for
rejection must be clearly stated. Statistics about the naturalisation claims of
refugees, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and tolerated status, as well as
stateless persons should be published. This statistical information should
include data about the number of claims, as well as the number of positive and
native decisions, disaggregated according to the nationality and legal status of
the applicant.
Act CLIV of 1997 on Health, Section 142 (2)-(3).
Human Rights Council, Resolution 16/21: Review of the work and functioning of the Human Rights Council, UN
Doc. A/HRC/RES/16/21, April 2011, Annex 1, Para 6.
40