A/HRC/58/49/Add.1 are reportedly exempt from this requirement, meaning that children in church-run care receive less protection. The supervision of the networks of foster parents has also been turned over from being state-run to church-run. Most are run by the child protection service of the Catholic diocese of Szeged-Csanád, the Saint Agatha Foundation, and some by the Reformed Church. 61. The Hungarian Catholic Church has reportedly appointed a Church official for child protection in at least one diocese and introduced a course on child protection into the curriculum for the training of priests. However, given the Attila Pető and other cases, more robust action is needed to ensure that children are not at continued risk of sexual abuse. 3. Health 62. Medical services during pregnancy and birth are free. Health insurance does not cover contraceptives. Emergency contraception is available only on prescription, causing delays that lower effectiveness and viability. Access to voluntary sterilization is restricted to persons over 40 or with at least three children. Non-married women are excluded from the statefunded assisted reproduction program. 63. Although abortions have been legal since 1953, they are difficult to access. Abortions are possible only after submitting to two counselling sessions with State officials who have a duty to dissuade the applicant from abortion. Since 2012, ‘medical abortions’ are not available, meaning that women seeking terminations must undergo a more invasive surgical procedure. The new Fundamental Law of 2011 refers to the protection of the foetus from conception, 24 and reportedly, the Government awards hospitals who refuse to carry out abortions. Some interlocutors raised concern that abortion may be criminalized in the future. F. Challenges arising in the context of immigration and asylum seekers 64. Hungary is party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Article XIV.4 of the Constitution establishes that asylum-seekers who are persecuted or have a well-founded fear of religious persecution shall be granted asylum. 65. Applications for asylum sharply increased in 2016, with some 30,000 applications. 25 The Government declared a ‘crisis’, xenophobic comments were made by some senior public officials, and an extremely strict – and much criticised - asylum framework was developed. In October 2016, the Government initiated a national referendum concerning the EU relocation plan which required Hungary to accept 1,294 asylum seekers. Voter turnout was too low for the results to be valid, but 98% of voters rejected the EU quota.26 66. Hungarian policy on migration has rightly been criticised for falling short of legal obligations, with the asylum process hindering effective access to protection. In 2019, the UN CERD Committee expressed deep concern at ‘reports that the principle of nonrefoulement is not fully respected in law and in practice’ and ’deep alarm at the reported excessive use of force and violence by law enforcement officers against third country nationals found anywhere in Hungary, while “pushing back” those found near the border to Serbia, resulting in injuries and bodily harm’. 27 67. The Special Rapporteur on migrants visited Hungary in 2019, highlighting the lack of procedural safeguards against refoulement,28 and noting that ‘rejected’ asylum seekers held in (now closed) ‘transit zones’ were threatened with deportation to their countries of origin where they might face persecution without having the merits of their claims examined on an individual basis. 24 25 26 27 28 Constitution of Hungary, Freedom and Responsibility, Article II. https://minorityrights.org/country/hungary/. Ibid. CERD/C/HUN/CO/18-25, para. 24. A/HRC/44/42/Add.1. 11