Hungarian Ombudsman Urges Repeal of Law Described as "Apartheid by Stealth" by ERRC
06 July 2026
An investigation by Hungary's Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has found the controversial Local Identity law adopted by the Orbán regime in July 2025 to be "deficient in several aspects" and recommended its repeal. The investigation was initiated following complaints, petitions and reports submitted by human rights and Roma advocacy organisations, including the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), which provided evidence of the discriminatory intent and impact of the law.
The Hungarian Law on the Protection of Local Identity, which entered into force on 1 July 2025, gave municipal authorities the right to adopt local decrees to defend their "fundamental right to self-identity," to take action against "undesired directions of societal development," and to determine who may move into a locality, and who may not.
The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights called on the Ministry for Justice to conduct a follow-up impact assessment evaluating the practical application of the Act, taking into account the report findings, the human rights violations identified, and to examine what constitutional or legislative action is necessary to protect fundamental rights, to comply with EU legal requirements, "while also guaranteeing that local governments cannot adopt regulations that violate fundamental rights under the pretext of protecting local identity."
As the ERRC earlier warned in an open letter to the European Union in September 2025, this law basically provided a legal framework for racial segregation, and allowed for the drafting of municipal decrees that systematically exclude Roma from taking up residence in towns and villages across Hungary; and described the law as "nothing less than apartheid by stealth."
The law led to a mass of discriminatory unlawful ordinances being issued. As TASZ reported, by mid-November 2025, more than 130 identity decrees had been passed across the country, almost all of which were severely discriminatory: "Some required millions in financial contributions from those moving in, arbitrarily imposed high levels of education as a condition, and required personal interviews — all of which were clearly intended to keep disadvantaged, poorer, typically Roma families away."
In its letter to the European Commission, the ERRC asserted that the Protection of Local Identity law, and the subsequent slew of municipal decrees constituted a breach of EU treaty provisions prohibiting racial discrimination, and the Race Equality Directive with regards to discrimination in provision of services, which includes housing. Nothing was heard from the Commission.
However, the landslide victory for Hungary's Tisza party has ushered in a period of hyperactive parliamentary legislative reform to undo the corruption and capture of state institutions, judiciary and the media, to restore the rule of law and undo the damage done by the outgoing Orbán regime. Now is the time to rescind this law, according to ERRC's President Đorđe Jovanović, who said:
"When the new Prime Minister Péter Magyar was inaugurated, he declared the end of the era of Orbán's 'hatred, fear and constant incitement,' which he said had poisoned the soul of the entire nation. The speedy repeal of this racist Local Identity law would be one perfect opportunity to prove he will keep his promise that Hungary can become a just and humane home for all of its citizens. There can be no place for such Jim Crow-type segregation laws anywhere in today's Europe."
The evidence and opinions in the report fully vindicated the ERRC's assertion that the law provides a legal framework for racial segregation, and constituted a deliberate move to create what in times past were defined as "Gypsy-free zones." In addition to scrapping this law, the Hungarian government should also provide a detailed response to the 2023 EU Council Conclusions, which called on member states to ensure equal access for Roma to adequate and desegregated housing, and to prevent racial segregation. For as the Hungarian Commissioner for Fundamental Rights reminded the State, its obligation to respect and protect fundamental rights does not end with refraining from violating them: "It also includes an institutional protection obligation, requiring the State to ensure the conditions necessary for the effective exercise of those rights."
