Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

Ombudsman Dr. Ákos Kozma reported on the 2022 activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary and his deputies to the National Assembly at its session on 27 November 2023.

In his brief introduction in the plenary session of the National Assembly, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary first of all reminded the attending MPs of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Dr.  Ákos Kozma explained that one of the key tasks of his 2022 activities was to operate the temporary regional offices opened as a response to the humanitarian crisis situation caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war that broke out on 24 February 2022, as well as to help those fleeing the war.

The Ombudsman also informed the National Assembly of the successful start of the activity of the regional offices opened in 2022. From the spring of 2022, it is possible to launch the procedure of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary in person not only in Budapest but also in six other Hungarian cities, i.e. in Szeged, Debrecen, Győr, Székesfehérvár, Miskolc and Pécs as well. The citizens have actively used the services provided by these field offices, in 2022, the clients consulted the Office on as many as 3548 occasions through the regional offices.

As regards the ombudsman’s children’s home renovation programme launched in 2021 in joint efforts with the National Prison Service Headquarters and the state forestry companies, Dr. Ákos Kozma was glad to report that the programme resumed in 2022 and the Szentlőrinc Group Home and the Veszprém-Gyulafirátót Children’s Home were renovated inside and out.

Furthermore, the Ombudsman emphasised in his introductory speech that “While we issued a total of 147 reports in 2021, this figure reached 226 in 2022, in which we formulated a total of 169 recommendations. In this respect, it gives a real signal that our initiatives were accepted by the addressees of the recommendations in as many as 153 cases. In 2022, 5740 petitions were filed to our office on the basis of 9499 inquiries, of which 4951 cases were completed and closed.” 

After responding to the questions and comments of the MPs, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary asked the National Assembly to accept the 2022 ombudsman report.