Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

In a society, communication and the – proper – understanding of one another constitute an entitlement per se, and the precondition to exercising other rights, stresses the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. According to Dr. Ákos Kozma, lending an understanding ear to the considerations of people living with disabilities, and ensuring accessible communicative spaces for them in their private and public life is a fundamental task. At the same time, the Ombudsman points out that the importance of this duty is further reinforced by the powerful challenges of the current pandemic.

Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. Ákos Kozma and Ombudsman for Future Generations Dr. Gyula Bándi welcome the campaign called European Week for Waste Reduction to be held between 20 and 28 November, whose goal is to draw attention to the importance of sustainable consumption and circular economy through the different aspects of waste prevention.

“Whenever decisions and measures affecting children are made, the reference point must be the enforcement of children’s rights and giving due consideration to children’s perspective”, Ombudsman Dr. Ákos Kozma reminded on World Children’s Day. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights called attention to the fact that the pandemic is also a turning point, which gives us an opportunity to review how the world as we know it today could become a better place for our children and the generations to come.

The National Headquarters of the Hungarian Prison Service takes part in the renovation of the Rum Special Children’s Home of Vas County and the Baja Special Group Home maintained by the Saint Agatha Child Welfare Service, courtesy of the coordination efforts between National Commander of the Hungarian Prison Service, Counsellor, Major General Dr. Tamás Tóth and Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. Ákos Kozma.

04/11/2021 – As of 1 November 2021, the tariff rates of mobile phone calls and calls through social media platforms made by detainees will be reduced by six forints per minute. Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. Ákos Kozma welcomes the measure the Hungarian Prison Service Headquarters (HPSH) has taken in response to the conclusions of his Report No. AJB-2236/2021.

A decision made in an administrative proceeding conducted on the issuance of a security guard license caused an impropriety – the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights exposed in his report. Dr. Ákos Kozma established that the legal ground for the decision closing the proceeding conducted in an individual case by the Mohács Police Department and the reason for terminating the proceeding were not justified, and that the Police Department had not taken into consideration the provisions of the Code of General Administrative Procedure (hereinafter: “Ákr.”), and had not provided the possibility to appeal against its terminating order. The Ombudsman initiated at the Head of the Baranya County Police Headquarters that it review the proceeding and the resulting decision as a supervisory organ, and that it take the necessary measures for issuing the license.

The lives of the elderly are affected by the protracted crisis situation, the reshuffling of the structure of communities and comprehensive technological development alike. The balance between the rights and autonomy that the elderly are entitled to, and the burdens and obligations imposed on them is still missing, the vulnerability of older persons is more and more clearly visible all over the world, along with its social, health care and public life dimensions. However, it should become increasingly clear as well that a society cannot develop in a healthy way without its elderly generation, as Ombudsman Dr Ákos Kozma reminds us on the International Day of Older Persons.

The obligation of the state deriving from Article II of the Fundamental Law of Hungary was only partially satisfied in healthcare institutions because different norms apply to workers present in the operating rooms as employees, and to patients receiving healthcare services there – Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. Ákos Kozma concluded in his report.

The missed foreclosure procedure whereby the foreclosure objection was not submitted to the court by the predefined deadline caused an impropriety in relation to the requirement of legal certainty and the right to fair administration of official matters, as well as to the right to legal remedy, as was established by Ombudsman Dr Ákos Kozma in his inquiry.

The local government of the municipality of Nagytarcsa caused an impropriety in relation to the right to petition and the right to fair administration of official matters, as well as to legal certainty while handling a public interest disclosure, Dr. Ákos Kozma established in his inquiry. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights asked the mayor and the town clerk concerned to take action in order to prevent the future occurrence of improprieties such as the ones exposed.

The Board of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), which Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. Ákos Kozma is also a member of, held its first meeting this year in Budapest on 13 August 2021.

In a case related to livestock rearing, the town clerk of the Common Local Government Office of Kiskunhalas caused a fundamental-rights-related impropriety relating to legal certainty and fair authority proceedings while handling a public interest disclosure that had been submitted to her – concluded the Ombudsman. Dr. Ákos Kozma asked the town clerk to take action in order to prevent the future occurrence of improprieties such as the ones exposed.