The amendments to certain laws, which were adopted by the Parliament on Tuesday, also contain provisions regarding the statute of limitations for pedophile crimes, the pedophile registry and the conditional release of pedophile offenders in order to protect children.
The representatives adopted the legislation with 163 yes votes and 14 abstentions, most of its provisions will enter into force on July 1.
It was recorded in the Criminal Code (Btk.)
sexual crimes committed against children under the age of 18 are never statute-barred.
A person who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment due to a crime against the freedom of sexual life and a crime against sexual morals committed against a person under the age of 18 cannot be released on parole..
In the case of exemption from the disadvantages associated with a criminal record, the current rule was maintained: those who can never be exempted from the adverse legal consequences associated with a criminal record are sentenced to a really serious prison term of more than five years.
It is also stated in the Civil Code from now on that the President of the Republic may not exercise his right of individual pardon against a convict who has committed a sexual crime against a person under the age of 18.
In the future, the pedophile registry will include, in addition to persons convicted by Hungarian courts, the data of Hungarian citizens who have been convicted of a similar crime in another member state of the European Union or in the United Kingdom.
From now on, reintegration custody will be excluded in the case of convicts who have committed sexual crimes against children.
The legislation required a psychological fitness test and an impeccable lifestyle for the managers of child protection institutions and those employed in professional positions. If someone is rated unfit in the psychological aptitude test, they cannot be employed, and their legal relationship must be terminated immediately.
The control of an impeccable way of life can also be initiated during employment, if there are good reasons to infer that the person concerned has an objectionable way of life. The law made this inspection the responsibility of the National Defense Service, the police's internal crime prevention and crime detection body.
In the event of an objectionable way of life, the sanction is the same as in the case of a psychological examination: the legal relationship must be terminated immediately.
The amendment made it the obligation of the members of the child protection alert system to inform the authorities of high-risk causes affecting children in their field of vision, for example, sexual and physical abuse and neglect of the child. Failure to give the signal will result in a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment in this case.
In relation to the camp, it was stipulated that children can only be supervised by a person who verifies with an official moral certificate that he is not on the register of criminals due to a crime committed against a minor, is not under the scope of criminal proceedings, ban from employment or forced medical treatment. This provision does not apply to children participating in the organization of the camp and will come into effect at the beginning of next year.
In the legislation, the range of children's rights was expanded to include education that ensures conscious and responsible internet and media use. A new element among children's obligations is that they must respect the human dignity of other children when exercising their freedom of expression.
Following the amendment, it becomes easier to report and remove content that violates the privacy rights of minors and exhausts the category of cyberbullying.
The income limit entitling children of needy families to regular child protection benefits has been increased: the current income threshold, set at 165 percent of the amount of the social screening fund (HUF 28,500), has increased to 225 percent of the social screening fund; and in the case of a child raised by a single parent, a chronically ill child, a severely disabled child, and an adult child, it increased from 180 percent to 245 percent.
The eligibility income limit for aftercare recipients who are unable to provide for themselves has been raised, it will be 150 percent of the amount of the minimum wage reduced by contributions.
The age limit under which library users are exempt from the registration fee will be raised from 16 to 25 years.
MTI
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