BackIn 2011 the activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights had to be carried out under the circumstances of crisis tendencies, where crisis management often generated debates on the interpretation of fundamental rights. Issues of social and labour law became major concerns, and the realisation of the rights of assembly and of the free expression of opinions became topical again. The crisis extended to such areas as health care or disaster management as well. All this often made it difficult for society to solve its conflicts, the fundamental rights aspects of which gave a special meaning to the rights protection function of the Ombudsman.
Another interrelated challenge of the year 2011 was the preparation of the transformation of the Ombudsman system; the new and serious challenges required a unified approach in the different fields of the Ombudsmen’s competences, and that the human rights situation in Hungary be realistically assessed and a new organisation be established to deal with this task. Our new Fundamental Law, adopted in 2011, tried to meet these requirements by setting up, as of 2012, a unified Ombudsman institution replacing the former structure consisting of four Ombudsmen.
Prof. Máté Szabó, Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary, would like to present the Activity Report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights in the Year 2011, which can be found here.
Source: Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
