Defining Domestic Violence in Hungary: Successes and Continuing Challenges (Research Brief)

Attitudes to violence have dramatically changed over the past twenty years in Central and Eastern Europe, but despite extensive activism, Hungary is one of three states in the region without a specific law on domestic violence. Additionally, services for victims are substantially below internationally expected levels, and data on violence against women are unreliable or unavailable. Most local and national governments in postcommunist Europe have been pressured to address domestic violence by transnational and homegrown NGOs focusing on women’s and human rights, but there is still a need for creating and implementing a specific law against domestic violence in Hungary.

Katalin Fabian, of Lafayette College, was a 2012-2013 Short-Term Travel Grants(STG) fellow.