Hungary plans to withdraw citizenship: government critics in danger!

Hungary plans to withdraw citizenship: government critics in danger!

The Hungarian government plans to temporarily revoke the Hungarian citizenship of certain dual nationals. This emerges from a recent draft law submitted to parliament by a member of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling party oe24 reported. The project is aimed in particular at people who are classified as dangerous to the state and therefore pose an alleged threat to public order.

Critics of the law fear that it is a repressive means of suppressing government critics. The regulation stipulates that citizenship status can be temporarily “suspended” for a period of up to ten years, which is unusual internationally. Typically, citizenship is permanently revoked or renounced.

Affected groups

The measure is primarily aimed at dual nationals whose second citizenship does not come from an EU country or Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Iceland. For example, Hungarian-American dual citizens who are active in human rights organizations could be affected, such as The time supplemented.

Another critical aspect of this regulation is the potential exclusion from the country, as the “revocation” of citizenship could result in the person concerned being expelled from Hungary. Hungarian citizens, on the other hand, cannot be expelled from the country, underlining the injustice of the measure.

Context of human rights in Hungary

The developments in Hungary are in the context of a comprehensive decline in human rights and the rule of law that has been observed for years. How Amnesty International notes, fundamental values ​​of the European Union are increasingly under threat, particularly in Hungary and Poland. In recent years, the Hungarian government has massively increased control over the media and the judiciary and severely restricted the rights of minorities.

Critical organizations, including the Hungarian section of Amnesty International, see their work restricted by numerous legal measures. This has led to a worrying climate in which freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary are continually under attack.

The recent developments surrounding citizenship are another signal of how profound the changes are in Hungary. The EU is responding to this trend by withdrawing or freezing certain funding, which could further exacerbate the precarious conditions in the country.