| 02.07.2012 | The Ombudsman has presented the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Awards

Press release:

The Ombudsman has presented the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Awards

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights presented the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Awards on 15 June 2012, in Budapest. This year the following persons were recognised for their activities: university professor Csilla Kollonay-Lehoczky, environment protection lawyer György Kalas, and Judit Berki, expert in social policy, jointly with the After School Centre of Bátonyterenye directed by her.

As Prof. Máté Szabó, Commissioner for Fundamental Rights pointed out in his welcome address, this award, founded by the Ombudsmen in 2007, is granted for outstanding achievement and professional activities in the field of the protection of human and civil rights and presented on the occasion of the anniversary of the foundation of the Ombudsman institution, which is the day the first Ombudsmen in Hungary were elected. The Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum, i.e. ‘Justice is the foundation of Empires' was the motto of Francis I, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary.

By presenting Professor Csilla Kollonay-Lehoczky, professor at ELTE and CEU, the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award Máté Szabó Ombudsman acknowledged her activities in the field of labour and social law. György Kalas, lawyer and environment protection activist, received the Ombudsman's award at the proposal of the Deputy Commissioner for Future Generations. At the proposal of the Deputy Commissioner for the Protection of Nationality Rights, the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award was given jointly to Judit Berki, professional director of the Association of Gypsy Minority Representatives and Advocates of Nógrád County, former Deputy State Secretary for Roma Affairs, and to the After School Centre of Bátonyterenye founded in 2000 and directed by her.