null Meeting of V4 ombudspersons in Gdansk

Representing the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, Elisabeth Sándor-Szalay Prof. Ombudsman for the Rights of Nationalities, Gyula Bándi, Prof. Ombudsman of Future Generations, and Dr. Katalin Szajbély Deputy Head of Department, attend the traditional annual meeting of Ombudspersons of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The focus topics of the meeting held from September 16 to 18 are the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the status of freedom of expression and the education and training of human rights. The ombudspersons and their accompanying staff provide a detailed description of the respective legal environment and its practical implementation in each country and evaluate the reflective activities in the area of fundamental rights. Experience in previous years has shown that in the CEE region there are similar legal and societal challenges to the independent ombudsman institutions, therefore the sharing of professional experience and good practices offers excellent support for tackling with these challenges.

The official program takes place at the Center for European Solidarity, where on 17 September they had the opportunity to meet Lech Wałęsa the Polish Nobel Peace Prize laureate, one of the founders of the Solidarity Trade Union movement and former Polish head of state.