The government plans to submit a proposal on treating domestic violence as a separate offence in Hungary’s new Penal Code already this year, the Human Resources Minister said on Saturday.
Zoltan Balog held a press conference about consultations he had with Palma Halasz, the head of a civil group that had initiated a vote by lawmakers in a demand signed by 105,000 people, as well as with female lawmakers of ruling Fidesz and lawmakers of the small opposition LMP.
He said it was agreed at their meeting that they would initiate setting up a working group to be composed of the justice and interior ministers, representatives of the equal treatment authority and the ombudsman’s office, and officials of the civil groups recommended by Halasz. This working group will be tasked to work out the specifications of the term domestic violence, Balog added.
Palma Halasz welcomed the start of consultations with the government, stressing that it was about an issue concerning a broad part of society.
Timea Szabo, a lawmaker of Politics Can Be Different (LMP), welcomed that the government had realised the importance of the issue, which affects over one million people – men, women, children, old and young and many disabled across the board in the Hungarian society.
The new criminal code will be enforced from July 1 next year.
