60 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 In court, in the presence of their attackers, women have to relive time and again the horror of the sexual attacks they were subjected to and to prove their innocence. They have to challenge public attitudes that it is acceptable for a husband to force his wife to have sex and that it is the woman who provokes rape. Such attitudes prompted a Hungarian judge, for example, to tell AI that she herself would be reluctant to report rape. Rape in the family is rarely discussed publicly. Victims are rarely heard to speak about the physical and psychological injuries they experience. The number of studies on this issue is extremely small. A 2006 public opinion survey revealed that 62 per cent did not know that marital rape was a crime. As a result, in Hungary there is a high rate of attrition for cases of rape and other crimes of sexual violence, women do not have access to justice and redress, and do not receive adequate support and services for victims. On the contrary they are being blamed, stigmatized and humiliated. Among other things, AI has called on the Hungarian authorities to ensure legislative changes that would guarantee access to justice, including by amending the present law on the definition of rape and other crimes of sexual violence and the requirements for establishing such crimes to be amended, in order to reflect women’s rights to physical, psychological or sexual freedom and integrity; to provide standards and training for professionals working with victims of sexual crimes; to set up support services for victims of sexual violence, including medical treatment, psychological care, legal and advocacy counselling, as well as quality forensic practice for the purposes of effective investigation; to carry out research and compile data that will inform policy making; and to actively combat social prejudices through public education. Following the publication of AI’s report, which received wide publicity within Hungary, a prominent member of parliament from the minority party in Amnesty International Hungary's governing coalition, the Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége, SzDSz), brought the issue before parliament in May and supported AI’s recommendations. Additionally, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement mentioned in the same month that the Criminal Code would be reviewed, and agreed that the current procedure was traumatizing for women. Police excessive use of force and illtreatment On 2 February, the Special Commission of Experts on the Demonstrations, Street Riots and Police Measures in September-October 2006 (Special Commission) issued a report on its conclusions after the investigation on the policing of the demonstrations, in which police reportedly used excessive force on peaceful demonstrations that later turned violent in the capital, Budapest. In November 2006, the Prime Minister had decided to set up this Special Commission to “analyse the historic and social causes, to examine the proportionality of the measures taken and to evaluate the institutional… [and] legal framework with respect to the actions taken by the authorities, with special regard to the human rights of those affected.” Echoing recommendations already made by AI (see AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007).The Special Commission also called on the authorities to ensure that law enforcement officers engaged in crowd control and those who make arrests are wearing visible forms of identification, such as name tags or identification numbers, as well as the insignia of the force to which they belong. The Special Commission also called for the establishment of a fully resourced independent agency to investigate all allegations of serious human rights violations by law enforcement officers. It further urged that the authorities ensure that the complaints by individuals concerning alleged violations of their human rights in the context of the policing of the demonstrations and their aftermath AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007