Working Visit to the SZEXE Organization
Budapest, April 3, 2018
Meeting in Budapest
As part of its international activities, a delegation from the Cultural Society Dobra Družba (KDDD) visited the Hungarian Sex Workers' Association (SZEXE), headquartered in Budapest. The KDDD delegation was received in a working environment by Ágnes Földi and Hanna Montvai, representatives of the association, which was founded in 2001. Its primary activity is the fight against discrimination and stigmatization of sex workers and breaking down the prejudices that the public in Hungary associates with their image and work.
Legal Context in Hungary
In 1999, Hungary passed a law decriminalizing prostitution, which regulates sexual services within the Act against Organized Crime. The law addresses organized crime and related phenomena, including prostitution, in one place. It also provides for the establishment of 'protected zones' where prostitution is prohibited, but allows it within 'tolerance zones,' which are to be established in every city with more than 50,000 inhabitants, or wherever prostitution is presumed to exist. While the activity itself is not prohibited by law, individuals engaged in prostitution can be punished if they do not strictly adhere to the administrative provisions of the law, such as the requirement for every active sex worker to have a medical certificate that is no more than seven days old. The penal code also punishes pimping and any form of promoting prostitution.
Discussions and Political Climate
The Hungarian Sex Workers' Association SZEXE, like KDDD and similar organizations across the European Union, includes the fight against forced prostitution and human trafficking among its priorities. The talks took place in a relaxed atmosphere, and the debate also touched on the political attitude towards this issue, as the Hungarian parliamentary elections were just around the corner. Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, who are distinctly unfavorable to all forms of commercial sexuality, won a convincing victory.