Ombudsman condemns the closure of needle exchange in Budapest

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, responding to a complaint submitted by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), found that the closure of the largest needle and syringe program in Budapest violated the right to health. The mayor is now accusing the ombudsman of “being controlled by the drug lobby”.

In November 2013, the HCLU submitted a complaint to the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, asking him to investigate political attacks by the mayor of the 8th district of Budapest against the needle and syringe program operated by the Blue Point NGO. The ombudsman produced a comprehensive report on the situation but the report was published only after the needle exchange program closed at the end of August.

In his report, the ombudsman, referring to a previous ruling of the Constitutional Court, defines the violation of the right to the highest attainable standard of health as an “exceptional, extreme shortfall in access to health care”. Closure of an existing harm reduction serivce, in an area where large numbers of marginalised injecting drug users live, and where the risk of infections is high, is precisely such an exceptional case.

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