Secretariate of the deputy commissioner for fundamental rights ombudsman for the rights of national minorities

On 10 December, the annual meeting of the Thematic Working Group on Roma Issues, which brings together 15 NGOs and public institutions under the umbrella of the Working Group on Human Rights, was held. At the request of the Chairperson, Attila Sztojka, State Secretary for Social Opportunities and Roma Relations, the Minority Ombudsman presented her experiences in the field of cultural autonomy of the Roma community, self-government system and socio-social challenges in recent years.

The interparliamentary conference on "Cultural heritage and the identity of national communities" concluded the parliamentary programme of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event was held in the Parliament on 4-5 December 2024, and one of the keynote speakers was the Minority Ombudsman.

On 13 December, the Roma Nationality Study Scholarship Diploma Ceremony took place, where, as in previous years, 25 talented Roma students with excellent secondary school performance received their diplomas. The young people concerned will receive a monthly scholarship of 30,000 HUF for the academic years 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, based on an open call for applications by the Ministry of the Interior. The event was opened by the Minority Ombudsman, followed by speeches by Attila Sztojka, State Secretary for Social Opportunities and Roma Relations, and István Aba-Horváth, President of the National-level Roma Self-Government.

In the framework of a comprehensive investigation into the nationality content of museums, the Minority Ombudsman organised a workshop at the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights on 29 November. The aim of the five-hour meeting, which was attended by nearly twenty experts, was to present the basic situation revealed by the investigation, to discuss the professional findings and recommendations, and to clarify and supplement them.

In the framework of a comprehensive investigation into the nationality content of museums, the Minority Ombudsman and her staff visited the nationality country house of the National-level Slovak Self-Government in Sátoraljaújhely-Rudabányácska. The Ethnographic Collection of Slovaks in Zemplén, which is classified as a museum of public interest, has been run by the Cultural Institute of Slovaks in Hungary as its own institution since 2015.

On 2 December, the plenary session of the National Assembly discussed the annual report on the activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his deputies in 2023. This is traditionally the last stage of the (political) assessment of the document: according to the Act on the National Assembly, the Committee on Nationalities and the Committee on Justice are obliged to review, discuss and express their opinion on the current report every year, and if confirmed, it will be submitted to the plenary session.