The European Court of Justice has officially declared Hungary’s child protection law unlawful due to discrimination and stigmatization.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) annulled the law on protection against paedophiles and the protection of children. Shortly after the legislation was adopted, the European Commission filed a lawsuit against Hungary. Although Hungary’s stated aim was to combat paedophile offenders, the court found that the law violated existing EU legislation. The breaches concerned rules governing services within the internal market, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The CJEU classified the amendments as incompatible with the prohibition of discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.
According to the court, the legal provisions were based on the assumption that the depiction of homosexuality or gender transition inherently endangers children’s welfare. This blanket approach, the CJEU stated, led to the preferential treatment of certain gender identities and stigmatized affected individuals. The amendments marginalized non-cisgender and non-heterosexual people, as they were considered harmful to the moral development of minors solely on the basis of their identity. Even the title of the law established a link to paedophile offenders, which, according to the ruling, could reinforce stigmatization and encourage hate speech.
Regarding the right to education, the court stated that Hungary’s stated objectives — promoting the overarching welfare of children and safeguarding parents’ right to ensure their children’s upbringing in accordance with their religious, philosophical or educational convictions — do not justify violations of fundamental rights. The ruling noted that human dignity was infringed because media content depicting homosexuality or divergence from birth gender was restricted. Access to such content was, according to the judgment, essentially banned or severely limited.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original German text.
