Socialists call on govt party to change laws where human rights compromised

Lendvai said the government should try to make up for inadequacies in the new constitution, which is to come into force on January 1 next year, by ensuring that cardinal laws related to the constitution are drawn up in such a way as to properly protect human rights.

"Freedom rights and human rights are more important than the government's power interests," Lendvai said.

She called on the Fidesz centre-right government to take up the offer of assistance in drawing up cardinal laws whose content touches on human-rights issues, made by the United Nations and the Venice Commission.

Further, Lendvai asked the government to set up a human-rights organisation which includes the parliamentary parties and non-government organisations to assist in drawing up the relevant laws.

She also said the government should consider delaying voting on the first cardinal bill, due on Monday, in order to strengthen provisions related to human rights.

Lendvai noted that the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the United Nations had expressed concerns about changes to laws which curtail human rights, such as narrowing the scope of the Constitutional Court, restricting the rights of a suspect taken into custody and muddying the separation of state and church.

"Slowly an iron curtain is being built round the country," she said, adding that the Hungarians living behind it would soon belong to a lower category of human rights compared to citizens in the rest of Europe.