From 1 December David Vig will join Amnesty International Hungary as the section’s new director.
David Vig JD is a lawyer,
adjunct of Criminological Department of Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Elte
University, where he obtained a PHD degree in 2004. Between 2011 and 2016 he
was working at the Criminal Justice Group of Open Society Foundation’s Human
Rights Programme and from 2017 he has been leading the Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Program of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
„I am proud of and excited
about the prospect of being the director of Amnesty Hungary. My aim is to built
a human rights movement together with the the members, activists, with the Board
and with my colleagues, in which everyone – regardless of gender, age and
social status – finds what can be done for a free and rule of law based
Hungary”, said David Vig.
„2018 might have been one
of the hardest years in the history of independent Hungarian civil society
organizations. They have been targeted by the meanest and harshest governmental
smear campaigns, we were listed and labeled, and two laws have been enacted
that clearly aims at silencing and intimidating governmental-critical voices. The
government has labeled us and everyone disagreeing with them as a traitor. But
we are not afraid of them and we won’t hide in silence. We love Hungary, hence
we stay here and work every day for a country that is a more open, free and
livable place for everyone.
„I am convinced that there
is a need for a Hungarian Amnesty which focus is even more directed at the deteriorating
situation of the Hungarian rule of law, at the clampdowns on the judiciary and
other independent institutions and at other local issues affecting us all. We
would like to have a presence that is stronger than it has been before, a more
conscious community and a stronger human rights movement, also outside of
Budapest in order to more effectively tackle local human rights violations. Over
the course of this job, I can rely on the work of the previous directors of
Amnesty, and I am very grateful for that.”
Background
David Vig was selected by
Amnesty Hungary’s Board through a public call for the position, after interim director Julia Ivan’s mandate had come to and end in September. In the provisional
period the organization has been led by Aron Demeter as acting director.
David Vig, director of Amnesty Hungary
