Hungarian Helsinki Committee awarded the Paul Weis Prize for Services to Human Rights

SRT grantee partner the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) has been awarded the Paul Weis Prize, in recognition of its work in supporting asylum-seekers, promoting fair legal processes, and safeguarding human rights in Hungary. The prize specifically acknowledged HHC’s legal advocacy efforts, which include defending asylum-seekers unlawfully detained or facing deportation, as well as documenting abuses and challenging unjust and inhuman policies.

Established in 1989, the HHC’s advocacy work has continued as Hungary’s government policies have become progressively more restrictive toward migrants, refugees, and those challenging state narratives. This has meant that Hungarian civil society has faced legal obstacles, dwindling funding, and public hostility fuelled by state propaganda.

Anikó Bakonyi, HHC Refugee Programme Director affirmed: “Our hard-working, committed colleagues work every day tirelessly to uphold the right to asylum, to fight against violent push-backs at Hungary’s southern border and to protect the rights of beneficiaries of international protection in Hungary where the government invests more into hate propaganda against them than into their integration assistance. We do this work in a hostile environment, despite legislation criminalising our activities. In times like this, when the Hungarian government works on destroying the rule of law and our once-functioning asylum system, this is not an easy task. We need all the strength, resilience, creativity and humour we can find. We can only carry this out in good company and in cooperation with others: with other organisations in Hungary and Europe. And it is wonderful to know that we are not alone.”

Since the 1990s, the HHC has provided pro bono legal support to tens of thousands of asylum-seekers and refugees, over 14,500 in 2022-2024, and defended the rule of law in Hungarian and European courts. For example, in recent years, HHC has had a succession of victories in European courts, with the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights ruling against a number of Hungary’s restrictive policies and legislations. This includes a CJEU 2021 ruling that found Hungary’s 2018 “Stop Soros” Act, which threatened criminal penalties for those assisting asylum-seekers, to be in violation of EU law.

The Paul Weis Prize for Services to Human Rights is awarded by ‘Courage – Courage for Humanity’, an Austrian civil society initiative that advocates for legal and safe routes for refugees. The prize was named after the Austrian international lawyer and Holocaust survivor Paul Weis to honour his life’s work. Among other achievements, Weis helped draft the 1951 Refugee Convention, provided essential foundations for international asylum law and is considered by many to be a founding father of the protection of refugees.