A/HRC/58/49/Add.1 municipal stream and complained. The Government therefore opened up a second equivalent stream of funding for church schools to equalise the funding. After 2010, the second stream kept increasing, widening the gap between the funding to municipal schools and church schools, in effect making the latter better funded. Hence schools and other educational facilities (kindergartens to universities, academic or vocational) run by churches enjoy greater funding than non-church-run ones. 55. The law stipulates that once 50% of parents sign a petition and the Ministry of Interior approves it, public schools can be transferred to any religious group with legal status. Since 2014, the number of schools run by religious organisations has doubled: 260,000 children (16%) study in church-run schools. In smaller areas, a church school may be the only accessible option for students. Since such a school is allowed to discriminate in its selection of pupils on grounds of religious affiliation and can deny admission due to its ‘selection’, this can result in both lack of access to education and segregation - whether of Roma children, children with disabilities, or children with other religions or beliefs. The UN Committee on the Right of the Child noted with concern that the allocation of public schools to church-run schools can lead to segregation based on religion or belief (2020 concluding observations).18 Many CSOs have described this as resulting in racial and social discrimination with the full knowledge and support of the State. 56. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern the historical discrimination against Roma people in education, with 60% of Romani children dropping out of school compared with 8.9% of the general population.19 Government officials have blamed Romani children for lowering state exam results citing ‘integration difficulties’ as the cause; 20 whereas it is claimed that in reality Romani children are disproportionately placed in special education, victims to an education system that fails to support them. 57. In 2023, the ECtHR found that Hungary had violated the right to non-discrimination where a Roma boy had been the subject of racial segregation in school, emphasising the State duty to develop a policy against segregation in education. 21 In its most recent review of Hungary, the UN CERD Committee registered its serious concern about the persistent discrimination, segregation, and extreme poverty faced by the Roma community.22 58. On 28 March 2017, the Government introduced a bill, which was subsequently adopted as the 2017 Law on higher education, targeting universities with foreign ties and preventing Hungarian-accredited universities linked to foreign universities from delivering programmes or issuing foreign degrees and prohibiting Hungarian diplomas from being accredited outside the EU without a binding international agreement. UN experts raised concerns that the law created obstacles for foreign academic institutions to operate in Hungary and restricted academic freedom. 23 2. Social Services 59. Over the last two decades, a wide range of State duties related to social services have been handed over to churches, including homes for elderly persons and for people with disabilities. Only churches have all their costs reimbursed via the central state budget, while municipalities and private providers have to find additional funding sources. Funding criteria are not transparent, and institutions maintained by churches are not obliged to publish annual financial statements. This reduces options, and risks discrimination, for those who may prefer access to services that are not religiously-affiliated. 60. Some 74% of child protection care is church-run. Whereas the law requires employers to check whether new employees are listed in the sex offenders’ register, church employees 18 19 20 21 22 23 10 CRC/C/HUN/CO/6, paras. 35(b) and 36(b). https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2023/0906/How-a-Buddhist-inspired-high-school-isboosting-Hungary-s-Roma. https://www.errc.org/news/hungary-government-minister-blames-gypsy-children-for-nationaldecline-in-reading-competence. Szolcsán v. Hungary, no. 24408/16, 30/3/23. CERD/C/HUN/CO/18-25, para. 20. HUN 1/2017.