Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

Persisting widespread discrimination, intolerance and hatred across the EU threatens to marginalise and alienate many minority group members who otherwise feel largely attached to the country they live in and trust its institutions. These findings emerge from a major repeat survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

The achievements of Senior Legal Advisor Dr. Zsuzsanna Győrffy in the area of child protection were honored by the Ministry of Human Capacities by a memorial certificate and a plaque. The slogan of the document awarded on the twentieth anniversary of the enactment of the Child Protection Act, on occasion of the Social Work Day, is “A Chance for a Lifetime”, which expresses the importance of the activities of the experts working in the field of child protection, in safeguarding and respecting children’s rights.

On October 25, 2017, Director Peggy Hicks and Deputy Regional Representative for Europe Paul D’Auchamp from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) paid a visit to the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights.

On September 28, 2017, Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Dr. László Székely and some experts from our Office (OPCAT experts Head of Department Dr. Gergely Fliegauf and Deputy Head of Department Dr. Katalin Haraszti) paid a visit to the Sopronkőhida Prison together with three experts from the Austrian Ombudsman Board (Volksanwaltschaft), in order to exchange their experience focusing on the OPCAT NPM.

On October 5, 2017, within the frameworks of his two-day visit to Hungary, Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), paid a visit to the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary. Members of the delegation headed by Director O’Flaherty included Adviser on Fundamental Rights Issues John Kellock and Legal Research Officer Tamás Molnár.

The Judiciary Committee supported, with ten yes votes and two abstentions, that the National Assembly put the report on the activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights in 2016 on the agenda of its plenary meeting.