Hungary Juvenile prostitutes in the video surveiled underpass of Nyugati It was easy to sweep out homeless from the city center, it is not easy with prostitution

August 16, 2011

Comment: The article is a follow-up to an earlier one we reported on which described the answer of the Minister of Interior to a question in Parliament, saying there is no child prostitution in Hungary. The current article describes the scene in downtown Budapest, in one of the busiest underpasses where prostitution, including child prostitution is rampant, despite the close-circuit video cameras. Two NGOs „adopted” the place, working with the homeless, with beggars, musicians, illegal vendors to move them out of the underpass but they had little success with the phenomenon of prostitution.

The article also points out the fact that no one was charged with prostituting children in Hungary, and that despite a current legislation that criminalizes customers of minors, there was no procedures that started against anyone so far. 30 NGOs and several thousand people signed a 10-point petition that calls on the government to effectively curb child prostitution and to treat it as child sexual exploitation – a criminal matter – while it also called on the government to stop criminalizing under-age prostitutes. According to the article the Prime Minister’s office as well as the Ministry of Interior responded and the NGOs were asked to submit their proposals for policy change. On the other hand, Anna Betlen, a prominent NGO expert points out that there is no research, analysis or study on prostitution and child prostitution in Hungary, which is another indication of the „lack of interest” of the government. Also, there are no service providers that help victims of sexual exploitation: if there were any – Betlen says – there would be available data on the phenomenon as well.

The article quite clearly points to a certain tolerance by law enforcement agencies for prostitution – and with the same token police does not pursue criminals who sexually exploit children. The article however does not explain why exactly, only stating that it is „rather difficult” highlighting that law enforcement has a problem implementing current legislation and prioritizing the fight against sexual exploitation of minors.

Comment: Judit Almasi, Head of Terre des hommes’ Regional Office for C/SEE.