Minority rights before the Constitutional Court of Hungary
During more than three decades of its operation, the Constitutional Court of Hungary discussed approximately three dozen cases directly affecting minorities in Hungary. The Court dealt with the concept of minorities (under what conditions can certain social groups be considered minorities), minority affiliation (belonging to a minority, i.e. who can exercise minority rights), as well as some specific minority rights (representation in parliament and local government, legal status of minority self-governments, language rights). General cases on non-discrimination and equal opportunity (including the criminal assessment of hate crimes and cases of compensation), which are not considered minority rights in the narrow sense, but which in practice mainly affect minorities and raise social problems, constitute a separate line of constitutional jurisprudence. Based on the related cases, the Constitutional Court does not seem to effectively protect the minority rights guaranteed in the constitution: its general attitude towards the protection of minorities is characterized by excessive judicial restraint, and in specific cases it mostly avoids examination of the merits. Unresolved tasks include the clarification of conceptual issues concerning minorities and minority affiliation, the development of constitutional minimum standards for minority rights, the interpretation of the principle of equality through the lens of national and ethnic affiliation, and the more effective integration of the experiences of international minority protection mechanisms.