Supreme Court of Hungary
Short presentation of the relevant legal regulations
on domestic violence in Hungary
(Problems and possibilities in adjudication)
Judge Agnes GALAJDA
Supreme Court of Hungary
Supreme Court of Hungary
The Republic of Hungary is located in East Central Europe. Shortly after World War II Hungary became a communist country under the influence of the Soviet Union. In 1989 the peaceful transition to a multiparty democracy took place. Hungary is a member of the European Union (EU) and of the NATO now. Most of the legislative reform that has been implemented was based on the need to join the EU and to harmonize Hungary’s legal system with EU norms. The Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and other laws have been amended, too. Many rules incorporated in several laws ensure the enforcement of human rights and provide adequate guarantees. It is an important question, whether these legal regulations offer effective protection for victims of domestic violence.
States and people worldwide face difficulties to do away with obstacles, with strong and long tradition. Everybody has to understand that the human rights of women are the same as those of men: safety and self-determination should not depend on gender or where women live.
The professional discussion – going on at present – concerns questions such as whether we need a specific law on domestic violence or provisions of the law on other crimes are adequate to deal with these cases. There are judges, lawyers and other legal practitioners who generally think that domestic violence is nothing else but violent crime, just committed in a family. Therefore is important for the state to send a clear message, and this message should be sent in legal provisions. This is an especially important problem in countries with a continental law system, where the written legal provisions have a priority.
Relevant legislation, legal regulations and services:
- The Hungarian Parliament accepted a resolution, in which it defined the relevant strategy to deal with the problem of domestic violence. (45/2003.) This act defined tasks for several government agencies and NGOs.
- In the same year the Parliament accepted the crime prevention strategy in which the problem of domestic violence has been given priority, mostly from the point of view of protecting children. (115/2002)
- The legislative process and professional discussion have been going on for a long time, but at the moment there is no separate legislation in force on domestic violence in Hungary.
- The law on restraining order entered into force on July 1, 2006. It is a provision in the Criminal Procedure Code. This measure is not an effective instrument to deal with the problem. The law defines restraining order as an enforcement measure, as an alternative to pre-trial detention, and it can only be imposed by a judge (for a period of 10-30 days) even in the investigation period. This measure can be imposed when the offender commits a crime punishable by prison and a criminal procedure was initiated.
- Another piece of legislation on harassment (stalking) entered into force on January 1, 2008. This is regulated as a criminal offense in the Criminal Code.
Supreme Court of Hungary
- Answer by the Police: 32/2007. (OT.26.) HNP HQ Instruction of the High Commissioner of the Hungarian National Police: On the carrying out of tasks connected to the management of domestic violence and to the protection of the minors.
- There is a 7/24 ministry-operated hotline and some shelters, but these are not enough.
- NGOs providing services for victims do not receive state-funding.
Answers of the justice system to this problem:
The justice system finds itself in a difficult situation because it accepts the existence of domestic violence but the legal regulations are inadequate and cannot always provide correct answers in the basic rules of classical criminal law.
At the same time these elements underline the importance of training. Having recognized these problems, in recent years the justice system pays special attention to questions of domestic violence (and trafficking in human beings).
We have had several conferences and trainings.
From 2004 to 2007 we have had five major events related to this subject. Their main task has been to raise awareness. Change of attitude is generally rather slow, judges follow principles that are adequate in cases of other violent crimes, but cannot be used in domestic violence cases.
In summary we can say, that the multi-professional trainings for experts of different agencies – state institutions and NGOs – have established a good basis for horizontal cooperation.
Starting in 2008 we are going to have a standardized training in the professional training of judges that focuses on human rights issues, including violence against women. These training programs are provided by well-known NGOs. (e.g: Amnesty International Hungary, Helsinki Committee, NANE Women’s Rights Association Hungary)
Other shortcomings with training:
There are no specialized family courts in Hungary.
There are no well-defined provisions on domestic violence as a crime in the legislation, therefore are no judges commissioned to adjudicate these cases. A judge is informed about the nature of the case, once he/she gets the file.
Participation of judges in training and conferences is voluntary, which may attract judges to the programs who are interested, but never have hearings in this field.
The important fact is that without an effective legal provision, training and change of attitude are important developments but simply not enough.
In order to handle the issue correctly we have to have a complex approach. Shortcomings in one of the areas cannot be solved with remedies in another area.
Judicial training is useful in raising awareness, but is not enough to find effective answers in adjudication to the questions related to domestic violence, since the legal environment has hardly changed.
Supreme Court of Hungary
General problems in dealing with domestic violence
- There is not separate legislation on domestic violence
- The state has to send a clear message and this message should be sent in legal provisions.
- Legislation in force cannot offer immediate, effective help in cases of smaller crimes.
- Co-operation among government agencies and NGOs is not effective.
- The state budget fails to secure appropriate funds for victim protection, for shelters, health, legal and psychological support
The very first step should be to achieve a professional consensus that: there exists the phenomenon of domestic violence, its characteristics shall be defined and these characteristics make it necessary to separate them from other violent crimes, so to have an independent legislation. It is important problem, if the judges can use the excuse that they can only apply the law if there is one. If domestic violence is not explicitly included in Criminal Code the judges can argue that domestic violence does not appear as a separate phenomenon in the law.
I hope, if we can close this discussion with agreement we can start looking for a solution.
Finally, we have to underline that most of these are problems stem from a democratic system where human rights are safeguarded in general, judges are independent and the state in its legislative activities intends to fulfill its international obligations.
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