The Council of Europe has released two reports concerning its member state Hungary. The first concerns the 13 national minorities that live in that country, while the second looks at the situation of Hungary’s minority languages, including Boyash and Romani.
This is the sixth report from the Council of Europe’s advisory committee on the Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities on Hungary. The report acknowledges Hungary’s continued commitment to protecting recognised national minorities, while calling for stronger action to ensure full and effective equality and participation for all communities. Hungary’s solid legal framework and increased funding provided to minority self-governments, which support cultural initiatives and manage minority education and cultural institutions. Many minority representatives expressed satisfaction with existing support measures.
At the same time, the advisory committee stresses the need for greater public recognition of minorities’ contributions to Hungarian society, noting that support often focuses on symbolic or folkloristic elements rather than on everyday social and economic inclusion. The opinion thus calls for stronger efforts in education and media to promote intercultural dialogue and mutual respect.
Roma continue to suffer persistent discrimination
The situation of Roma communities remains worrying. The Roma continue to face structural disadvantages in education, employment, housing and healthcare, and persistent discrimination. School segregation is widespread and requires urgent and sustained action, including comprehensive desegregation policies and improved co-ordination between national and local authorities.
The advisory committee highlights concern regarding census methodology and plans for a register-based census, stressing the importance of reliable equality data to support evidence-based policymaking. It further notes that recent institutional reforms have made the anti-discrimination framework more complex and less accessible to the public.
Despite legal and policy safeguards, minority language rights are seldom exercised in practice, partly due to a lack of qualified teachers and limited visibility of minority languages. Challenges also persist in ensuring effective participation of minorities in decision-making processes, particularly for numerically smaller national minorities.
Some of the key priority recommendations for the Hungarian authorities include actively promoting tolerance; ending school segregation and improving education for Roma pupils; engaging with communities seeking recognition under the framework convention; improving Roma inclusion policies; better prosecution of hate crime; and promotion of public use of minority languages.
Solid progress but more needed for minority-language protection
Meanwhile, the committee of experts of the Council of Europe's European Charter for regional or minority languages has published its eighth evaluation report on Hungary, which reflects developments in protection and promotion of minority languages and identifies further action to improve progress.
The report notes that Hungary benefits from a solid legal and institutional framework supporting national minorities and minority language use. The authorities maintain an ongoing dialogue with minority representatives, while minority self-governments play a central role in promoting language and culture across the country. Minority language education is well established, with networks of kindergartens and schools offering education in minority languages, bilingual teaching, or language instruction for most languages protected by the charter. Minority languages enjoy visibility in cultural life through museums, theatres, documentation centres and numerous community initiatives. The report moreover praises Hungary’s earlier decision to extend stronger charter protections to Boyash and Romani, demonstrating continued commitment to linguistic diversity.
But uneven progress has been noted. In practice, minority languages are rarely used before courts or in contacts with administrative authorities, despite the existing legal possibilities. Education in minority languages and bilingual education face practical challenges, notably shortages of textbooks and teachers capable of teaching subjects in minority languages. While public radio and television provide programmes for minorities, television airtime remains limited, and technical difficulties affect radio reception. Proactive measures are encouraged to ensure minority languages are used in public life and transmitted to younger generations.
Priority steps for the Hungarian authorities include developing language-specific strategies; strengthening education in minority languages and increasing the number of qualified teachers; extending educational provision for Boyash and Romani; facilitating the use of minority languages in dealings with the authorities; improving minority-language media offerings.
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The Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities is Europe’s most comprehensive treaty protecting the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. It is the first legally binding multilateral instrument devoted to the protection of national minorities worldwide, and its implementation is monitored by an advisory committee composed of independent experts. The treaty entered into force on 1 February 1998 and is now in force in 38 states.
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The European Charter for regional or minority languages is the Council of Europe’s convention designed to protect and promote states parties’ traditional regional or minority languages and enable speakers of these languages to use them in both private and public life. Its implementation is monitored by a committee of experts, which is independent. The treaty entered into force on 1 March 1998 and is now in force in 25 states.
