Joint Letter to the Hungarian Government

Joint letter from TGEU, OII Europe, and ILGA-Europe to the Hungarian government

TGEU, OII Europe, and ILGA-Europe send a letter to the Hungarian government insisting on the need to #Drop33 and stop the potential ban of legal gender recognition for trans people in the country. In this document, we collect local, regional, and international organisations’ objections to the proposed legislation.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
The Hungarian Government
1357 Budapest, Pf. 6.

24 April 2020

In regards to Article 33 of the proposed Omnibus Bill, 2020

Dear Prime Minister Orbán,

This letter, on behalf of The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe), a regional non-governmental organisation focused on the rights of LGBTI people with over 600 members in 54 countries in Europe and Central Asia, Organization Intersex International Europe (OII Europe), the regional umbrella organisation for intersex-led organisations in Europe, with members in more than 20 countries, and Transgender Europe (TGEU), a member-based oragnisation for the trans community in Europe and Central Asia with 140 member organisations in 44 countries, brings to your attention the response to Article 33 of the proposed omnibus bill of 2020, regarding reformulating the national registry to change the mutable category of “sex” to an immutable category of “sex at birth”.

We, along with our members in Hungary, strongly opposed the proposed amendment to the national registry, such that it will effectively make legal gender recognition for trans and intersex people impossible in Hungary, which contravenes EU and international human rights law and violates the well-established right to private and family life for trans and intersex Hungarians.

We write to bring to your attention the clear and strong call of many international human rights organs and actors in opposition to this measure. You will note that there have been objections published by:

• 22 Hungarian human rights and LGBT NGOs,
• the Hungarian Psychological Association,
• the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights,
• 63 Members of the European Parliament,
• the European Parliament as a whole,
• the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
• the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH) and European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM), and
• the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, which refers explicitly to the bill as bad practice.

Additionally, a petition against the Article has collected over 22,000 signatures as of the writing of this letter.

As ILGA-Europe, OII Europe, and TGEU, we call on you to heed your responsibilities under the international human rights law framework, and to amend the omnibus bill to remove Article 33 prior to a vote in the full Parliament.

Kind regards,

Katrin Hugendubel
Advocacy Director, ILGA-Europe