As of March 20, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was poised to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza — at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest, in direct defiance of Hungary’s still-active treaty obligations under the Rome Statute. Human Rights Watch called on Hungarian authorities to arrest Netanyahu upon arrival, noting that ICC judges had already found Hungary in non-compliance with the court’s earlier request during a 2025 visit. Hungary’s parliament has since ratified the country’s formal withdrawal from the ICC, set to take effect in June 2026. Legal scholars have characterized the episode as an instance of a government using legal maneuvers — formal treaty withdrawal — to escape accountability mechanisms embedded in international law. The case illustrates how elected governments can actively dismantle international rule-of-law architecture from within.

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