Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

Members

Since 2015, Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation has been working on children’s rights in Hungary through projects combining psychological and social services, child protection and legal knowledge. Hintalovon’s work focuses on violence against children, including protection from sexual exploitation, child safeguarding, children’s rights to education, and child participation. They provide free legal aid service to child victims, and to meet the increasing customer demand Hintalovon broadened and transformed their legal aid service, with the implementation of the anonymous Child Rights chatbot service.In 2021-2022 The Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation carried out a ground-breaking research project, Sexual Exploitation of Boys, as part of ECPAT International’s Global Boys’ Initiative. Aiming to identify the measures that need to be taken in terms of prevention and protection, the project takes an action-based approach to mitigating risks, setting up support services, and re-framing the stigma and taboos of boys’ sexual exploitation in Hungary.

Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation

Contact: Szilvia Gyurkó
Phone: (+36) 30 948 5123
Address: Budapest, Jurányi u. 1, 1027 Hungary
Email: ecpat@hintalovon.hu
Website: https://hintalovon.hu/en/home/

Resources

ECPAT joins forces with DOT Europe, CCIA and 50+ tech trade associations and NGOs with a joint statement to the European Union

Year: 2024

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ECPAT International and NSPCC
ECPAT and NSPCC child online safety poll: Questionnaires

Year: 2023

ECLAG
Fact-check: Top 9 claims made on the Regulation to fight Child Sexual Abuse

Year: 2023

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ECLAG
Open Letter to the LIBE Committee Rapporteur on the proposed EU regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse

Year: 2023

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ECLAG Group
ECPAT with 41 child’s rights organisations denounces IMCO’s draft opinion on the EC Child Sexual Abuse Regulation Proposal

Year: 2023

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Stories

News from Hungary

Indicators

Age of Consent

No

Age of sexual consent is 14 with a close-in-age exemption for peer relationships among children aged 12 and above but below 18

ECO Hungary, 2021

Extraterritoriality & Extradition

Partial

Active and passive extraterritoriality is provided for SEC related crimes without requiring double criminality. Passive extraterritoriality can only lead to criminal proceedings if requested by the Prosecutor General.

Extradition is possible for SEC offences but requires double criminality. Foreign perpetrators with residence in Hungary or Hungarian nationals cannot be extradited.

SEC offences are referred to as extraditable under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) framework within the EU without requiring double criminality if the act is punishable by a maximum period of at least three years of imprisonment in the requesting State.

ECO Hungary, 2021

CSAM Definition

No

The national legislation does not provide a definition of CSAM which is in line with international standards.

ECO Hungary, 2021

Background Check Required

Partial

Labour Law (Act No. I of 2012) requires a certificate of No Criminal Record (it is a so called ‘Moral Certificate’) for certain jobs but there is no such general regulation for jobs related to children. In most of the cases, it is up to the employers whether they need such certificate.

Child Rights Report, 2021

National Commitments

Partial

Hungary has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.

Hungary has also ratified the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.

Hungary has not ratified the OPIC and the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics

ECO Hungary, 2021

Child Advocacy Centers

Partial

Hearing and Therapy Centres operate in 5 cities (regional centers). The main goal of these centers is to reducse re-traumatisation of children in particular during the criminal procedure. Professionals working in these centers conduct child hearings with special, trauma-sensitive way. However, in practice, the hearing centres struggle a lot of systematic problems.

ECPAT Country Report 2021, Child Rights Report 2021, 2021

SEC Police Unit

Partial

The main police unit including SEC in its mandate is the Cybercrime Division of the National Investigation Bureau which has competence over online manifestations of SEC and the the Child and Youth Protection Department of the Budapest Police Headquarters, responsible for investigating SEC in the capital city, often with international links, although its jurisdiction does not cover the whole country. Lastly, 22 specialised human trafficking professionals were appointed at the national police headquarters in 2019 to increase the efficiency of investigations.

ECO Hungary, 2021

Protection Standards Travel and Tourism

No

No regulation binding or non-binding establishing SEC protection standards on travel and tourism at all either in law or in soft law.

ECPAT Country Report, 2021

Public SEC Case Data

No

There is national SEC case data made public by the Unified Investigation and Prosecution Crime Statistics on some SEC-related crimes such as exploitation of children in prostitution, crimes related to child sexual abuse material and child, early and forced marriage. No information was found on whether this data is clearly disaggregated, made available periodically and whether it contains data on offenders and on compensation sought by child victims.

ECO Hungary, 2021