Civil society to European Commission: Act now to defend fundamental rights from Hungary’s Pride ban and the use of facial recognition against protesters
EDRi, along with a broad coalition of civil society organisations, demands urgent action from the European Commission on Hungary’s new law banning Pride marches and permitting the use of live facial recognition technology targeting protesters.
Hungary is attacking fundamental rights, targeting protesters with live facial-recognition tech
In an attack on the EU fundamental rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, Hungary’s Parliament fast-tracked the passing of amendments banning and criminalising Pride marches and their organisers. The penalties for this ban include exorbitant fines, and in certain cases, imprisonment. The amendments are also in violation of the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act because they permit the use of real-time facial recognition technologies for the identification of protestors – a significant infringement on privacy and personal freedoms also protected under EU law.
24 civil society organisations are calling on the European Commission to put interim measures in place to rectify this violation of fundamental rights and values. Further, we urge the Commission to investigate and act upon the violation of other EU laws, such as the AI Act, to address the the use of real-time remote biometric surveillance (RBI) to target and fine protesters.
The Commission has a responsibility to ensure the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in Hungary and beyond are protected, and that the organisers and people marching at Pride in Budapest are safe and able to peacefully assemble and to protest.