Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU)

The HCLU has received several grants from George Soros’s Open Society Institute (OSI) and Foundation to Promote Open Society (FPOS). ^{5  2}

The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network, also known as the SWAN Foundation, is a pro-prostitution advocacy group that was founded and coordinated by the HCLU with funding from both FPOS and OSI. ^{6  7}

Activities

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union offers free legal services to Hungarian citizens on issues related to the freedom of speech and the press, electoral rights, race and discrimination, civil disobedience, and more. ⁸

Political and Legal Influence in Hungary

HCLU publishes regular news updates which provide updates to the group’s cases and legal issues. In a June 2025 news update, the HCLU reported on a legal decision rendered by the European Court of Human Rights that found Hungarian authorities had violated the rights of a Romani family by forcibly separating a mother from her newborn son immediately after birth without sufficient legal justification. HCLU joined the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) to represent the family in the case. ⁹

In January 2026, the HCLU contributed to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report in coordination with other Hungarian human rights organizations. HCLU’s main criticisms of the Hungarian legal system include what it considers the restriction of the freedom of the press and free expression in Hungarian media, judicial abuses against Hungarian citizens, and the failure to investigate and prosecute high level corruption within the Hungarian government. ¹⁰

The HCLU also supports LGBTQ activism and opposed the Hungarian Parliament’s April 2025 constitutional amendment that banned public LGBT events, including parades, so-called “Pride” events, and any event that may depict or promote homosexuality to minors. ¹¹ In October 2025, Géza Buzás-Hábel, a gay Roma teacher and long-time LGBT activist in Hungary, became the first person in the European Union (EU) to face criminal charges for organizing a gay pride march, punishable by up to one year in prison. HCLU and other left-of-center civil rights groups submitted a brief to the Hungarian Supreme Court challenging the case, but the court upheld the ban on the event. ⁴

In 2017, the HCLU and other George Soros-funded nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) accused the Hungarian government of attacking freedom of speech in an effort to weaken Soros-influenced groups from operating in Hungary. The HCLU, joined by fellow Soros-backed groups Transparency International and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), criticized the Hungarian government’s decision to shut down daily opposition newspaper Nepszabadsag in October 2016, an act they decried as an authoritarian suppression of expression. ^{12  13}

SWAN Foundation and Soros Partnership

The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network, also known as the SWAN Foundation, is an advocacy group for the rights of “female, male, and transgender sex workers” based in Budapest, Hungary. SWAN was founded and coordinated by the HCLU with funding from George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society (FPOS) and Open Society Institute (OSI). ^{14  15} Soros’ Open Society Institute also helped the HCLU publish SWAN News, a publication advocating for the decriminalization of prostitution and sex work. ¹⁶

Influence in the United States

In 2022, the Biden administration’s Department of State published a report on alleged human rights violations in Hungary. The report highlighted the role of the HCLU in bringing six lawsuits against the Hungarian government for allegedly using high-tech surveillance software to spy on independent investigative journalists, lawyers, politicians, and businesspersons. The same U.S. State Department report highlighted the HCLU for filing a complaint with the EU, alleging that the Hungarian government was spreading Russian propaganda. ¹⁷

A similar Biden administration Department of State report from 2023 alleged civil rights abuses in Hungary. The report referenced the HCLU as a critic of the Hungarian government, particularly for its use of tear gas to disperse crowds protesting outside the Hungarian prime minister’s office. ¹⁸

Leadership

As of 2025, Dalma Dojcsák was the executive director of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, a position she has held since 2023. Previously, Dojcsák worked for the HCLU as the head of its Freedom of Speech Project and Political Freedoms Project. She has also worked as the country editor for the Freedom House Freedom on the Net Report, as an Assistant Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, and as a lawyer. She received her undergraduate degree and J.D. from Eötvös Loránd University. ^{19  20  21}

In a 2025 interview with INCLO, Dojcsák argued that the right-of-center Hungarian government of Viktor Orban was “anti-human rights and anti-democracy.” She also advocated for the Hungarian left-wing to protest, march, and organize against Orban’s government while concerning itself with “issues that are important for the left, like trans issues.” ²²

Financials

In 2024, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) reported roughly 581 million Hungarian forints ($1,825,567) in total revenue and roughly 574 million Hungarian forints ($1,803,353) in total expenses. ²³

From 2011 through 2023, left-wing billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Institute and Foundation to Promote Open Society have issued 12 grants to the HCLU totaling $2,671,825. ^{24  25  26  27  28  5  2  29  30}