At the invitation of the Government, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst will be spending a week in Hungary to examine the situation of human rights defenders.

During his visit (8-16 February 2016), the UN Special Rapporteur will review the Hungarian application of the statement on human rights defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly and the general situation and operating circumstances of human rights defenders in Hungary. In addition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Rapporteur will be holding consultations with the heads of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Interior, the Office of Immigration and Nationality, the Ministry of Justice, the Hungarian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority, the Government Control Office and the Human Rights Working Group. Furthermore, Mr. Forst will also be consulting with representatives of the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Human Rights and non-governmental organisations.

The Rapporteur may make recommendations in the interests of improving the situation of human rights defenders. He will be putting forward his experiences, findings and possible recommendations with relation to his visit to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in his report due in 2017.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)