Presentation given by Prof Dr Máté Szabó, Ombudsman, Hungary at a FEANTSA Research Conference on "Understanding Homelessness and Housing Exclusion in the New European Context", Budapest, Hungary, 2010

1. Insert your logo
„Dignity on the margin”
Prof. Dr. Máté Szabó
Ombudsman
Hungary
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN THE
ENHR
NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

2. Ombudsman’ role
 The main task of the Ombudsman
(Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil
Rights) is to investigate any abuses of
constitutional rights he/she has become
aware of and to initiate general or particular
measures for their redress
 Act LIX of 1993, on the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Civil Rights, states that
anybody may apply to the Ombudsman, if
they have suffered injury as a result of action of
any authority or body performing a public
service.
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

3. Proactive work – projects
 It is launched a new working method and
a way of thinking after September 2007;
 Every year different topics are determined;
which are especially important for the society
and the enforcement of the rule of law and
have a particular significance from the point
of rights and freedoms
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

4. Special project on human dignity of
homeless people
 Basic thesis – Right to human dignity
- The objective obligation of the state to ensure the
fundamental rights
- Fundamental rights are inviolable and inalienable!
 The aim of the project is: to analyze the
enforcement of the fundamental rights of
people without any shelter, to determine
the dilemmas of „being” and „rights”
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

5. Social crisis
 Dilemmas:
- Poverty
- Exclusion
- Periphery
- Resignation
- Low level of capacity to interest
articulation & representation
 DEFENCELESSNESS
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

6. Strategies
 The strategy of homeless people for survive:
„ violence of moral borders”
 The answer of the state and the society:
- creation of equal chances
- prevention
- bleeding out
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

7. Constitutional principles
 Using tools of the rule of law – fair
procedures
 The philosophy of the primacy of human
dignity (But: „a minimum standard of
living” - Decisions of the Hungarian
Constitutional Court)
 Dialogue: The state has to offer an
alternative for real cooperation!
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

8. Main investigations
 Removal of arm-rests of public benches and the removal of the homeless
due to urban image (the so-called ‘arm-rest’ report laying the foundations of
the project);
 Aspects of the debt spiral causing homelessness;
 The questionable practice of juridical writ of execution;
 The procedure of the security guards of the Budapest Public Transport Co.
at the Kőbánya-Kispest Metro Station, and activities of security personnel in
night bus services;
 Access to certificates and cards entitling one to get health care;
 Evacuation in Kispest,
 NATO summit and plans for the removal of the homeless from the small
forest of Kispest;
 The situation of the homeless in the streets of a housing estate in
Veszprém;
 Anomalies in legal norms related to residential address, place of stay and
financial provisions;
 Operation of day shelters and their closure during the weekend
 Beglers mafia
 Against sanctions on rubbish-sifting in Kaposvár
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

9. Proactive work
 Exhibition from art pieces of homeless artists in
the Ombudsman’ Office
 Initiating a Social Charter signed by all relevant
civil actor
 Joining the „adoption of Nyugati Station”
 Attending at the „Night of the Homeless”
 2008 – Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Annual
Human Rights Award to the head of the Public
Foundation for Homeless People.
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT

10. Thank you for your kind
attention!
www.obh.hu
European Research Conference, Budapest, 17th September 2010
UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION IN ENHR
THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXT