Office of the commissioner for fundamental rights of hungary

The President of the International Ombudsman Institute arrived in Hungary at the invitation of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary Dr. Ákos Kozma. During his multi-day visit, Mr. Chris Field is getting first-hand information on the direct legal and humanitarian support that is provided by the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary (AJBH) to the persons fleeing from the war in Ukraine, among others, at the Beregsurány and Záhony ombudsman information points. The President of IOI, who is paying his first official visit in Hungary right now, is also getting informed about the operation of the regional offices of AJBH and holds consultation meetings with the President of the Constitutional Court and the heads of the police forces, the aliens policing authority and the prison service, among others.

President of the International Ombudsman Institute, Ombudsman of Western Australia Mr. Chris Field and Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary Dr. Ákos Kozma visited the Debrecen Regional Office of AJBH and the Hungarian-Ukrainian border section today.

Dr. Ákos Kozma provided information to IOI President Mr. Field on the circumstances of receiving people fleeing from Ukraine to Hungary and the measures taken to support them, on the operation of the Debrecen Regional Office of the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary, as well as the work and experience of the ombudsman information points established at the border crossing points for providing direct legal and humanitarian support to the Ukrainian refugees.

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary underlined that “This is the first time that the President of IOI has paid an official visit to Hungary. Besides personally finding out about the situation of the persons fleeing Ukraine, among others, he came to Hungary as a result of the high level of international professional interest in our Office. The reason for this is that the opening of our permanent regional offices and temporary information points counts as a novelty in international ombudsman practices. It has been indicated by several foreign colleagues of mine that they were considering the adoption of this good practice, i.e. the setting up of a system similar to our regional offices, since, as a result of this, the citizens living in the countryside may also personally initiate ombudsman procedures at a location close to where they live.”

“Both on behalf of the International Ombudsman Institute and myself, I would like to express my acknowledgement to my ombudsman colleague Dr. Ákos Kozma, as he has set up such a unique network of regional ombudsman offices in Hungary that may serve as an example for all of us. We recognise and appreciate the active role and efforts that my colleague the Commissioner has undertaken to directly support the persons fleeing from the war to Hungary. The International Ombudsman Institute guarantees full support to Dr. Ákos Kozma and the ombudsman institute that he heads, we will strive to help and support his aspirations with all of our efforts in the future as well. It is a special honour to me to have the opportunity to get a first-hand experience of all the work that the Ombudsman is doing for the protection of the fundamental rights of people in Hungary”, said Chris Field.

In the Csengersima region, the President of the International Ombudsman Institute also inspected the activities of the first contracted special border guards serving in the region, then he will take part in planting a sapling at Kisgyőr, as a memento of his visit to Hungary, this afternoon.

In the next few days, Chris Field will travel to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border section, where he will get informed about the work of the police staff serving there and the activities performed by the temporary ombudsman information points set up in Beregsurány and Záhony, furthermore, he will hold consultation meetings with the President of the Constitutional Court and the heads of the police forces, the aliens policing authority and the prison service, among others.

The International Ombudsman Institute was established in 1978 and it is the only global organisation that serves the cooperation of almost 200 independent ombudsman institutions of more than 100 countries all over the world.