Ombudsman Máté Szabó has Completed his Mandate on 24 September

Jurist cum political scientist Prof. Dr. Máté Szabó was elected Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights back in 2007. He was elected for six years, his mandate expires today, on 24 September 2013. During his tenure in office, in early 2012, the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights was established in lieu of the former fundamental rights protection system of four commissioners. Beside the Ombudsman, two deputies work in this new Office in charge of the protection of the rights of future generations and nationalities living in Hungary, respectively.

At the farewell event organised for the outgoing Commissioner, several speakers spoke highly of the work done by Máté Szabó during his 6 years in office. This period saw the onset of a global and domestic economic and financial crisis whose challenges manifested themselves also in the implementation of fundamental rights – hitting mostly the otherwise most needy. This phenomenon and the growing reputation of this institution protecting fundamental rights were duly reflected in the ever growing number of complaints lodged with the Ombudsman and, as a result of the Commissioner's extended statutory authority, in the increase in the number of petitions submitted to the Constitutional Court. According to some public opinion poll data, by 2012 the Ombudsman institution, propagating the inviolability of human dignity, had been placed above all in the ranking of public trust.

During the farewell event Attila Péterfalvi, President of the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, former Commissioner for Data Protection, awarded a decoration to Máté Szabó in recognition of his effort aimed at guaranteeing the continuity of data protection. Marcel Szabó, the incumbent and on‑staying Deputy Commissioner in charge of the protection of the interests of future generations  presented  the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award, the most prestigious award of the Ombudsman institution, to the outgoing Commissioner.

A series of projects, a new working method introduced by Máté Szabó and a defining element of his entire mandate, concentrated mainly on the fundamental rights of the needy and the vulnerable. More than forty publications dealt with the analyses and recommendations made by the Ombudsman on the status of implementation of the rights of the child, the world of labour, workers in community employment or in healthcare, people worried about their health or living with disability, the homeless, the elderly and mothers with small children, and with the conclusion that might be drawn therefrom. A project spanning several years investigated various closed institutions, among them Hungarian prison system whose Director General awarded the Commemorative Silver Medal of the Prison Service to the Ombudsman in recognition of the efforts by the Ombudsman and his Office aimed at improving the situation of the inmates and the staff of Hungarian penitentiary institutions.

Effective of 25 September 2013, the Hungarian Parliament has elected Dr. László Székely as the new Commissioner for Fundamental Rights replacing Prof. Dr. Máté Szabó.