A/HRC/44/42/Add.1 out their legitimate and important work. Those obstacles resulted from legislative amendments, financial restrictions and other operational and practical measures taken by the relevant authorities. As a result, some civil society organizations have been deterred from cooperating with the United Nations entities assisting migrants and refugees (see, for example, A/HRC/42/30, annex, paras. 47–50 and A/HRC/39/41, annex, paras. 51–55). In addition, the Special Rapporteur learned that a number of civil society organizations had been subjected to smear campaigns, in some cases followed by administrative or criminal investigations. Although the criminal charges against the non-governmental organizations concerned were dropped one year later, the organizations and individuals involved in the smear campaigns and investigations all suffered reputational damage at the very least. For instance, in November 2019, a few months after the visit of the Special Rapporteur, the Supreme Court of Hungary ruled that the Government had damaged the reputation of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, an association active in the area of asylum law, over a 2017 national consultation questionnaire, which contained false allegations about the Committee.19 A. Legislative measures 56. In July 2018, a criminal offence “supporting and facilitating unlawful migration” was introduced into the Criminal Code through Act VI of 2018 on Amending Certain Acts Relating to Measures to Combat Unlawful Migration. The new stand-alone offence criminalizes, inter alia, organized activities aimed at the initiation of an asylum procedure, punishable with up to one year of imprisonment and in the case of foreign perpetrators, expulsion. According to the Government, such “organized activity” does not include providing legal advice, information or humanitarian assistance, or presenting the relevant legal regulations, thus these actions are still allowed. However, these vaguely defined “criminal activities”, without explicitly stated humanitarian exemptions, could be interpreted as any support or assistance provided by civil society organizations to asylum seekers exercising their legal right to submit an asylum application.20 Although up until the time of drafting the present report, there had been no criminal prosecution on the basis of the new criminal offence, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the negative impact it could have on the legitimate work carried out by civil society organizations assisting asylum seekers and migrants in need of international protection. The uncertainty about the scope of application of this provision creates a chilling effect on civil society organizations engaged in activities that could fall under the offence, depending on how the provision is interpreted and applied. Organizations that are affected may apply self-censorship and reduce or terminate services, which further hinders asylum seekers and migrants from exercising their right to seek asylum and international protection, as many of them rely on the services provided by civil society organizations, such as legal advice and representation, in their asylum- or protection-seeking processes. B. Financial and other constraints 57. The Government has also introduced a so-called special tax on immigration. Based on the new regulation, Act XLI of 2018 on Amending Certain Tax Laws and Other Related Laws, Including a Special Tax on Immigration, a tax of 25 per cent is imposed on the financial support provided for any activities supporting or promoting immigration in Hungary (art. 253). However, the definition of an “activity supporting immigration” seems very broad and includes any programme, action or activity that is “directly or indirectly” aimed at promoting immigration and is realized by “carrying out a media campaign”, “organizing education”, “building networks” and propaganda activities portraying 19 20 The court ordered the Office of the Prime Minister to pay 2 million Ft in damages to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. The court also ruled that the Government must publish an apology to the Committee, both through the National Press Service and on the home page of the official Government website, visible for 30 days. See www.kormany.hu/en/cabinet-office-of-the-primeminister/news/communication. See also “UNHCR observations on the legislative amendments adopted in Hungary in June and July 2018” (November 2018), paras. 25–28. 13