Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

Within the framework of the Family-Friendly Obstetrics Application Programme, as of 2018, hospitals have become able to apply for subsidies intended to be used for developing family-friendly obstetrics or neonatal intensive care units. As a result, several investments have begun. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights calls upon the heads of healthcare institutions to pay particular attention to ensure patients’ rights during the reconstruction works.

Budapest, Thursday 26 September 2019 (MTI) Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Ákos Kozma – who took office this Thursday – would like to work particularly on solving the problems of people turning to the Ombudsman and protecting the rights of children and vulnerable groups. In his interview given to the Hungarian News Agency he also emphasized that he wishes to preserve the independent and non-political nature of the ombudsman institution.

Currently, Hungary is not yet party to the Optional Protocol to the 30-year-old Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure. It is thus a significant development that upon Commissioner for Fundamental Rights László Székely’s appeal, the Minister of State for Family and Youth Affairs at the Ministry of Human Capacities has indicated: they have begun to prepare the decision necessary for Hungary’s joining the optional protocol.

The local government ordered a ban on changes on recently purchased, undeveloped land. However, the same ban does not apply to the adjacent plot in local government ownership. During his inquiry regarding the petition on the matter, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights established that a ban imposed in such a manner runs counter to the requirement of equal rights stipulated by the Fundamental Law of Hungary. Therefore László Székely has appealed to the local government concerned as well as to the county-level government commissioner.

On May 17, 1990, homosexuality was deleted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the World Health Organization (WHO). This means that from this day, sexual orientation which is different from the mainstream does not qualify as a disorder.

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights proposed that the Constitutional Court interpret Paragraphs (5) and (6), Article 25 of the Fundamental Law of Hungary to solve the constitutional law issue concerning the operation of the National Judicial Council.

Ombudsman for Future Generations Gyula Bándi encourages the creation of a legal and incentive system that guarantees the peace of the citizens at night in order to systematically reduce the noise pollution caused by the dynamically increasing air traffic in Hungary, which already generates mass-scale complaints filed by the citizens, and asks the competent minister to conduct a comprehensive review of the legal regulation of air transport.

The principle of the rule of law and that of the best interests of the child, as well as the right to respect for family life are violated by all such hospital practices in the course of which newborn babies are separated from their mothers during postnatal hospital treatment, disregarding the statutory guarantees, without any medical reasons and in contrary to specific requests. Ombudsman László Székely consulted the competent ministry for the elaboration of the right legal interpretation and rules of procedures.

On the proposal of his Deputy-Commissioner for Future Generations Gyula Bándi, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights László Székely reviewed the provisions of the Forest Act amended in 2017 and turned to the Constitutional Court with constitutional concerns.

It was 26 years ago, on December 18, 1992 that the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Commemorating this decision, which was a milestone from the aspect of international law and for society too, the Day of National Minorities has been celebrated on December 18 every year since 1995. In addition to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 1992, this UN declaration was the first comprehensive international document which specifically called the attention of the states to the protection of the identities of national minorities as a value to be held in high esteem. It made provisions, among others, on the right of national minorities to their own culture and education in their respective mother tongues, on their meaningful participation in the decision-making on matters affecting the national minorities, as well as the possibility for them to keep contact with their mother countries freely and across borders.

The opening ceremony of the renovated building complex of the elementary school in Tarnazsadány took place on 29 November 2018. The project of 130 million HUF in total had been initiated by the maintaining institutions, the headmaster as well as the ombudsman and the deputy ombudsman for the rights of national minorities. The renovation has been badly needed for decades, however this time not only the sanitary unit attached to the main building has been renovated but also the windows and doors were changed, the classrooms were insulated and the roof has been fixed.

Each child and the rights of each child count, reminds us Commissioner for Fundamental Rights László Székely of the statement underlying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on Universal Children’s Day. Dr. Székely also calls our attention to that children are not small adults, they are not mere instruments or objectives, they are not simple statistical figures but humans with their own rights, dignity, free will, personality and developing character. It is a one of today’s key challenges to give them a carefree childhood.