As UNITED4ISTANBULCONVENTION we condemn the new bill which the Hungarian Parliament has adopted, and which is a grave violation of LGBTIQ rights.
As feminist and LGBTI+ organizations from Turkey, Europe and international NGOs and networks who have joined our forces under the UNITED4ISTANBULCONVENTION, we condemn the new bill that the Hungarian Parliament has adopted which will curtail the LGBTI+ representation and violate LGBTI+ human rights. This bill is the latest outcome of the anti- gender and anti-democracy practices of the far-right authoritarian governments who are willing to strip away all our human rights to consolidate power.
The Hungarian parliament adopted the “Pedophilia Act” on June 15, 2021 which aims to curtail the representation of LGBTI+ people. Despite thousands protesting in front of the Hungarian Parliament on the day of the vote and the absence of the members of the left-wing parties in the voting, the parliament passed the law called “Pedophilia Act” which states “the state should ensure the right of children to an identity in line with their sex at birth”. Similar to the Russian (Anti-) Gay Propaganda Law, the “Pedophilia Act” incorporates homophobic and transphobic provisions such as a ban on “exposing minors to any content that depicts sexuality for its own sake or portrays and promotes homosexuality or deviance from gender identity based on birth sex” including in advertisements, education and any media content.
We know that this bill is part of the global anti-gender, anti-human rights backlash which has been organized globally and supported by authoritarian governments and corporate power. Women and LGBTI+ people won their legally xed human rights within years of struggle and hard work. Now, they are at risk of being reversed by this immense backlash which is very well organized and funded at both the regional and international levels. Hungary issued an explicitly discriminatory law to be in direct violation of human rights of the LGBTI+ people, through stigmatizing LGBTI+ lifestyles by declaring them “dangerous content for minors”. In line with the fact that the Hungarian parliament had adopt- ed another law last year which introduced “birth sex” instead of “gender” into legal documents, thus making gender recognition legally impossible, the new so-called “Pedophilia Act” is an alarming attack against the human rights of the transgender people in the country.
We call upon the Hungarian government to repeal this act immediately, and call upon the EU and UN human rights systems to take all necessary measures to safeguard LGBTI+ and women’s human rights against this global war on gender equality and human rights. We assure the Hungarian civil society, all citizens including LGBTI+ persons and women and all other vulnerable groups: we stand united in soli- darity with you for all human rights and will not leave before all human rights are re-enacted in Hungary.
https://medium.com/@united4istanbulconvention
