Message of Commissioner for Fundamental Rights on International Day of Older Persons - AJBH-EN
Dr. Ernő Kállai
Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Ernő KÁLLAI, Deputy-Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, responsible for the Rights of Nationalities
Studies
2008 Ph.D. degree in legal theory and legal sociology at the Deák Ferenc Doctoral School of Law and Political Sciences, University of Miskolc
1997 - 2002 Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences - lawyer
1994 - 1998 Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Arts - secondary school teacher of history
1990 - 1994 Eszterházy Károly Teacher Training College - teacher specialised in history and music
1994 - 1995 Journalism School - certified journalist
1995 Hungarian Radio - news editor and radio journalist
Employment
2010 Eszterházy Károly College, Faculty of Teacher Training and Knowledge Technology - head of department
2009 University of Debrecen, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Department of Constitutional Law - guest professor
2008 Corvinus University of Budapest, Post-graduate specialist training programme in equality and minority issues - mentor and guest professor
2007 Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minority Rights
2002 - 2010 Apor Vilmos Catholic College, Institute of Romology and Applied Social Sciences - head of institute, college professor
1998 Hungarian Academy of Sciences Ethnic and National Minority Research Institute - Head of research group on Romology
1999 - 2002 Miskolc University, Department of Sociology, professor
1996 - 1998 member of staff of the Roma Civil Rights Foundation
1988 - 1997 teacher at various educational institutions
Scholarships
2000 - 2002 Civic Education Project
1997 - 1999 Soros Foundation
1998 - 2002 European Roma Rights Centre
1997 - 1999 Roma Civil Rights Foundation, „Invisible College" for Roma students
Public and professional activities
2007 - Member of the Equal Treatment Professional Advisory Board
2002- 2005 Member of the board of trustees of the Autonomy Foundation
1998- 2004 Member of the board of trustees of the Gandhi Public Foundation
Membership of professional organisations
Hungarian Sociological Society - member of the Presidential Board
Hungarian Academy of Science - member of the Public Body
Hungarian Association of Lawyers
Hungarian Society of Political Sciences
Hungarian Ethnographical Society
Awards
2006 Award for Minorities
2005 honoured by the National Gypsy Self-Government for excellence in research
Main areas of research using empirical data survey in the past years
- Emergence of cultural rights of the minority communities'
- The new paradigms of handling of ethnic data
- Roma entrepreneurs in Hungary
- Research on local Gypsy minority self-governments
- The past and present of Gypsy musicians
- The social history of the Hungarian Roma in the 20th century
- Equal opportunities of Roma in Hungary. Self-governance, positive discrimination, and the role of education in improving the situation of the Roma - theoretical and practical models
- The theoretical models and practice in Hungary of local Gypsy minority self-governments
- The cultural autonomy of minorities
Press releases
null Message of Commissioner for Fundamental Rights on International Day of Older Persons
Message of Commissioner for Fundamental Rights on International Day of Older Persons
The UN General Assembly declared 1 October the International Day of Older Persons in 1990, which has given us the opportunity to call attention to the importance of a dignified and active old age, the role that elderly people play in the community and families, as well as their return to work, ever since 1991. The UN guidelines for older people were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1991, in which their autonomy, participation, care that is key from the aspect of both personal living conditions and social policy, self-fulfilment and last but not least, human dignity are key ideas.
Based on the current demographic processes, the global population over the age of 65 is expected to grow from 10 to 17 percent in the period between 2021 and 2050. There are more and more elderly people in Europe, and also, in Hungary, who play an important role through their involvement in family, community and voluntary activities. The increase in the number of persons reaching senior age draws attention to the lifelong importance of health preservation, as well as the prevention and treatment of diseases. A supporting environment is key to assisting older persons in preserving their agility and autonomy as age progresses.
Demographic changes warn us that ensuring the conditions for a dignified life, in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a common responsibility, which at the same time strengthens and protects the human rights of the present and future generations of the elderly.
Based on the specific statutory authorisation for protecting the rights of vulnerable social groups, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights treats the cases, special problems and questions of the senior citizens who turn to him as a high priority, both in the proceedings launched on the basis of individual complaints and those initiated ex officio, irrespective of the area that these complaints concern.