The UN Human Rights Office criticized Hungary’s new law prohibiting gay pride events and authorizing facial recognition to identify participants, calling it discriminatory and urging its immediate repeal.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a sharp rebuke of Hungary’s newly enacted law banning pride events, calling the measure discriminatory and urging the government to reverse it. The legislation, passed on Tuesday by Hungary’s parliament in a 136–27 vote under expedited procedure, prohibits pride events and authorizes authorities to utilize facial recognition technology to identify participants, who could face fines of $500.

The law, backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party and its coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, amends Hungary’s assembly regulations to outlaw events that allegedly violate child protection laws. These laws ban the depiction of homosexuality to minors, and the fines collected from violators will be redirected to support child protection programs. The passage of the law ignited protests in Budapest, with opposition lawmakers setting off smoke bombs inside the parliamentary chamber.

UN Human Rights spokesperson Liz Throssell expressed alarm over the legislation, stating the agency is “deeply concerned” about what it described as “arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and privacy.” Throssell also condemned the authorized surveillance, asserting that such measures “should be limited to those strictly necessary and proportionate for achieving legitimate objectives and should never be deployed in a discriminatory manner.”

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for the law’s repeal and urged Hungarian authorities to address what he described as “the high levels of intolerance, discrimination, bullying and harassment related to sexual orientation.”

Prime Minister Orban defended the legislation, framing it as essential to protecting children from what he called harmful influences. “The international gender network must take its hands off our children,” Orban declared. He accused the European Union and the prior U.S. administration of “pushing their harmful agendas” but claimed that with U.S. President Donald Trump now in office, “the winds have shifted in our favor.”

“We finally have the space to act and protect our children. No more re-education, no more compromises. Our children come first, and we will fight to defend their future,” Orban wrote on X.