Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

The prison in Sopronkőhida is extremely crowded, inmates spend their lengthy imprisonment in cramped cells, there are fewer psychologists than needed; on the other hand, inmates can attend family consultations before being released. It was for the first time in the history of the Prison and Penitentiary of Sopronkőhida, built in 1886, that the Ombudsman conducted an investigation.

The Ombudsman has re-investigated four children's homes providing special care and found infringements on several fundamental rights on this occasion, too. Commissioner Máté Szabó has requested the intervention of the competent minister.

He had been having a toothache for months, could hardly eat and, yet, he had not received any medical treatment but painkillers – a prisoner complained to the ombudsman. Ombudsman Máté Szabó finds it unacceptable that the penitentiary institution did not ensure dental treatment to a prisoner in pain.

As of 1 July 2013, pensioners working in the public sector will stop receiving their pension as long as they remain employed. According to the Ombudsman, this alteration of pension regulations infringes on the right to property, on the protection of rights representing pecuniary values, therefore he requested the Constitutional Court to annul this amendment.

During one of his earlier, comprehensive investigations the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights concluded that various institutions of higher education and their faculties, in particular, did not have a uniform practice as far as the enforcement of the rights of students living with disability was concerned. Therefore, he requested the Minister of Human Resources to take the necessary measures in order to create an unambiguous legal environment. The State Secretary in charge of higher education partly concurred with and partly disputed the findings of Máté Szabó.

According to the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, it is contrary to the requirement of the rule of law and infringes on the right to due process that the Media Act, in addition to imposing fines on organizations impeding the proceedings of the Media Authority, also stipulates, in case of repeated offence, imposing fines on the executive officer of the infringer. Therefore, Máté Szabó has requested the Constitutional Court to annul the provision concerned.

According to the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, certain parts of the Fourth Amendment may not fulfil the formal and procedural criteria that are stipulated in the Basic Law. Therefore, upon the authorisation of the Basic Law, the ombudsman challenges the regulations in question at the Constitutional Court.

The authorities participating in handling the extreme snow situation, together with the voluntary rescue teams and civilians, carried out their rescue activities with the best possible utilization of both personnel and equipment. There were, however, some serious shortcomings in the course of preparing, alerting and informing the population, and in communications, too – concluded Ombudsman Máté Szabó summing up his ex officio investigation.

The termination or suspension for an extended period of air sampling at certain parts of the air monitoring network by the state jeopardize the right to a healthy environment and access to public information.

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights proposes that the Minister of Rural Development review legislation as several complaints have been made saying that agricultural land under nature conservation may not be cultivated while there has been no expropriation in compliance with the Act and the proprietors have not received any consideration for their lands.

National security may be a legitimate excuse for curbing one's privacy, so national security inspection in itself does not constitute an infringement of one's right to privacy. On the other hand, the shortcomings of the Act on the National Security Services may endanger privacy, equality before the law and the right to fair procedure, stated the Ombudsman.

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights provided his opinion ex-officio on the new rule of the draft bill on national security control. According to Máté Szabó, the private sphere of the individual should be respected during the security screening; moreover, the requirements of necessity and proportionality founded in the Basic Law should be also applied.