Human rights groups challenge Hungary's anti-Pride law in court
FILE PHOTO: People attend the Budapest Pride march in Budapest, Hungary, July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Marton Monus/File Photo/File Photo
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Five human rights groups including Amnesty International challenged in court Hungary's legislation that created a legal basis for police to ban Pride marches by the LGBTQ community, the groups said in a statement on Friday.
Hungary's parliament, where the ruling Fidesz party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban LGBTQ marches and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend.
It also approved constitutional changes in April stipulating that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female.
Activists say the measures amount to a de-facto ban on Pride marches. Prime Minister Viktor Orban - whose ruling party has a Christian conservative agenda - has said organisers "should not even bother" organising Pride in Budapest this year.
Orban, who has been in power since 2010, faces elections in 2026 where a new opposition party is mounting a serious challenge to his rule.
Five groups including Amnesty and leading LGBTQ rights groups Hatter Tarsasag and the group that organises Pride, said in their statement that the march planned for June 28 will go ahead in Budapest irrespective of the court ruling, which is expected next week.
"Organisers are preparing for the biggest Pride march Hungary has ever had," their statement said.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The groups launched the legal challenge on Thursday after police banned a smaller march planned for June 1. They said when police banned the event, it cited the new legislation, which says assemblies that are considered harmful to children cannot be held, and that protecting children would supersede the right to assemble.
"Police did not provide evidence on why the (June 1) march or the Pride march that is considered similar could amount to a violation of children's rights," the statement said.
On Tuesday, seventeen European Union countries accused Hungary of contravening fundamental EU values by passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people, as tensions deepen between Budapest and a majority of member states.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
13 minutes ago
- The Star
Mongolian PM resigns after losing parliament backing, street protests
Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene speaks at the parliament before a confidence vote, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj BEIJING (Reuters) -Mongolia's Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene has stepped down after losing parliamentary support following corruption claims that erupted into street protests last month, the country's parliament said on Tuesday. The parliament of the world's largest landlocked country did not pass a draft resolution on a confidence ballot, meaning Oyun-Erdene was deemed to have resigned, a parliament statement said. "It was an honour to serve my country and people in difficult times, including pandemics, wars, and tariffs," Oyun-Erdene said after the result of the vote was known. Oyun-Erdene, who has been prime minister since January 2021 and was re-elected in July 2024, will remain caretaker prime minister until a successor is named within 30 days. The political upheaval comes after Mongolians last month protested for weeks in the capital Ulaanbaatar alleging corruption involving Oyun-Erdene and his family. Oyun-Erdene did not immediate respond to Reuters' emailed request for comment on his resignation and the corruption allegations. A statement posted on the Mongolian parliament website showed Oyun-Erdene thanking the country's youth for their views on transparency, and citizens for their different perspectives, but said he "regrets that this is used as a political pretext and causing instability". Oyun-Erdene argued he had been steadfast in fighting corruption but had focused too much on large projects instead of social and political issues. The outgoing prime minister had pushed for infrastructure and resource development projects in the mineral-rich country, outlining 14 mega projects including mineral processing centres, water diversion initiatives, dams and power plants. (Reporting by Liz Lee and Ryan Woo; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
South Korean delivery workers allowed rare pause in services to vote in snap election
FILE PHOTO: Delivery trucks for e-commerce retailer Coupang leave a distribution centre in Seoul, South Korea, June 21, 2018. Picture taken June 21, 2018. REUTERS/Josh Smith/File Photo SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean e-commerce and courier companies agreed to a rare halt of their delivery services on Tuesday to allow busy delivery workers time to cast their ballot in the country's snap presidential election after pressure from unions and activists. Asia's fourth-largest economy has a highly tuned e-commerce sector and South Koreans typically rely on couriers to deliver everything from fresh food to clothing, often in a matter of hours, with the service normally available throughout the year. South Korea's biggest e-commerce platform Coupang, agreed to halt express deliveries for the first time since it launched in 2014, joining other local delivery services such as CJ Logistics and Hanjin Logistics. "Rocket delivery will be paused during the day on June 3," New York-listed Coupang said in a notice on its platform, pausing deliveries between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Most of the tens of thousands of delivery workers in South Korea are considered gig workers or self-employed and do not enjoy the same legal protections as permanent employees. The job is also notorious for long working hours and a heavy workload, with couriers complaining they have seen few of the benefits from an improvement in labour rights in other sectors. The agreement to temporarily halt services during the polls, was positively received by some workers. "I welcome the decision. But on the other hand, it is a little regrettable that night drivers cannot rest," said Cho Shin-hwan, a Coupang courier, who had to work on past elections. Nearly 8 in 10 eligible voters in South Korea voted in the last presidential election in 2022, a far higher turnout than recent elections held in other democracies such as the United States and Japan. Presidential election days are designated as a national holiday in South Korea to encourage workers to vote, with polls for the snap election staying open between 6 a.m. (Monday 2100 GMT) and 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Tuesday. "Those affected worked hard to achieve this," said Kim Eun-jung, Deputy Secretary General at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a non-governmental body, highlighting how delivery workers were excluded from current labour protection laws. The June 3 presidential election was called after the Constitutional Court ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this year for his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3. (Reporting by Hyunsu YimEditing by Ed Davies and Michael Perry)
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
China's factory activity cools in May as US tariffs hit
BEIJING: China's factory activity in May shrank for the first time in eight months, a private-sector survey showed on Tuesday, indicating US tariffs are now starting to directly hurt the manufacturing superpower. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI fell to 48.3 in May from 50.4 in April, missing analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll and marking the first contraction since September last year. It was also the lowest reading in 32 months. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction. The result is broadly in line with China's official PMI released on Saturday that showed factory activity fell for a second month. A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the most sweeping US tariffs, a day after a trade court ruled that President Donald Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them. Two weeks after breakthrough negotiations that resulted in a temporary truce in the trade war between the world's two biggest economies, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday the talks are "a bit stalled". China's Premier Li Qiang last week said the country is mulling new policy tools, including some "unconventional measures", which will be launched as the situation evolves. According to the Caixin survey, new export orders shrank for the second straight month in May and at the fastest pace since July 2023. Producers said the US tariffs restrained global demand. That dragged down overall new orders to the lowest since September 2022. Factory output meanwhile contracted for the first time since October 2023. Employment in the manufacturing sector declined at the sharpest pace since the start of this year, as producers cut headcount. Output prices have fallen for six straight months due to intense market competition. In the auto industry, for example, an intensifying price war in China has stoked fears of a long-anticipated shake-out in the world's largest car market. Robin Xing, Chief China Economist at Morgan Stanley, said this underscores how supply-demand imbalances continue to fuel deflation. "There is growing rhetoric about the need for rebalancing, but recent developments suggest the old supply-driven model remains intact. Thus, reflation is likely to remain elusive." Surprisingly, export charges rose for the first time in nine months, marking the fastest growth since July 2024, as companies cited rising logistics costs and tariffs. Overall, business optimism improved in terms of future output, as they expect the trade environment to improve with market expansion.
