Stricter Child Protection Laws: authorities crack down on paedophiles and sex offenders in Hungary

Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday adopted changes aimed at increasing protection for children against sexual abuse.

Under the amendments, adopted with 163 votes and 14 abstentions, the penal code will stipulate that sexual crimes against people under 18 shall never lapse. Also, people convicted to imprisonment for such crimes shall not be released on probation.

The amendments have not changed current rules under which criminals convicted for more than 5 years imprisonment cannot be cleared of a criminal record.

The penal code now also stipulates that the president of the republic cannot grant their presidential pardon to people convicted for sexual crimes against minors.

Hungary’s registry of people convicted for paedophilia will contain the names of criminals not only convicted in Hungary but by courts of other European Union members and the United Kingdom.

Child molesters in the future shall not be released into home custody.

The amendments stipulate that leaders and staff of child protection institutions should be screened for psychological aptitude and that those people should have “an impeccable lifestyle”. Candidates failing to pass the psychology test cannot be employed or should be dismissed without delay if they are already in employment. An assessment of lifestyle could be requested any time during their employment “once there is sufficient reason to assume that it is objectionable,” the amended law says. Such checks must be carried out by the police’s National Protection Service.