2. THE COMMISSIONER FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND HIS DEPUTIES IN HUNGARY AND ABROAD 41 In Berlin, at the meeting of Equinet’s working group on ageing, the EUROCHILD, which is a European umbrella organisation participants exchanged their views on the forms of age-based dis- founded in 2003 from the European Forum for Child Welfare crimination, and the activities performed by the equal opportunity (EFCW) and which comprises some 100 children’s rights mem- bodies in order to prevent discrimination. ber organisations, assigns a key role to action against child The meetings of Equinet’s working group on gender equality starvation and the ill-treatment of children. The Office was repre- were organised in Lisbon, then Copenhagen, where the partici- sented at the annual conference of Eurochild held in Brussels, where pants assessed the process of the European and national ratifica- the organisation identified the following key priorities for 2019: tion and implementation of the Istanbul Convention (the Council of participation in the new European legislative processes, strategic Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against cooperation with the European Commission, fight against child pov- women and domestic violence), finalised the Equinet information erty, and the promotion of the involvement of children in democratic leaflet on the situation and rights of transsexual and intersexual per- decision-making processes. sons, as well as the policy analysis publication on combating violence against women. Furthermore, the participants discussed the possible topics of the roundtable meeting on the situation of women living in poverty to be organised in 2020, as well as the political priorities of the new gender equality strategy of the EU, and they defined specific regulatory objectives in numerous topics for the new Commission. The Office takes part in the work of the Innsbruckbased European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), and the European Network of Ombudsmen (ENO), which was established in 1996. The annual General Assembly of Equinet, as well as the conference on combating sexual harassment were held in Brussels be- ENO is a network comprising more than 95 Ombudsman tween 22 and 24 October 2019. The General Assembly elected the Offices of 36 European countries, which was created with new Executive Board, and approved Equinet’s new homepage and a view to promoting the exchange of experience on human communication strategy, along with the 2020 work plan of the or- rights between the member states of the EU, candidate coun- ganisation. The representatives of the member organisations took tries, members of the European Economic Community, as well part in the panel discussions presenting the findings of research as the European Ombudsman and the Petitions Committee of projects on the effects of artificial intelligence and digitalisation on the European Parliament. At the annual Brussels-based confer- equal opportunities, and attended further workshop discussions on ence of ENO, our Office was represented by Deputy Commissioner the topic of equal opportunities organisations. The day was closed Dr. Gyula Bándi. At the plenary sessions of the conference, the by a public roundtable discussion on the post-#MeToo era in Europe, strengthening of European democracy and public participation which attracted more than two hundred participants. were discussed. During the workshop titled Developing soft power, some of the best practices of the Hungarian Ombudsman were The main task of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC), established in 1997, is to promote the protection of the rights of the child stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. presented, which sparked great interest: namely, the county visits of the Commissioner as a practice established to balance our centralised systems, and help reach those strata of society that have limited access to justice, regular cooperation with civil society organisations, joint events, as well as the annual handover of the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award. The Office was represented at the European Forum on the Rights Ombudsman institutions take turns in organising the annual of the Child in Brussels in 2019 as well. This event is organised each meetings of the Ombudsmen of the Visegrad Group (V4) coun- year by the European Commission, while now it was organised on tries, which have by now become a tradition. The experience of the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the UN the previous years has shown that the independent Ombudsman Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the tenth anniver- institutions have to face similar legal and social challenges in the sary of the entering into force of the Charter of Fundamental Rights East Central European region; for which the sharing of profes- of the European Union. At the forum, all the achievements made sional experience and best practices is an excellent source of sup- in the EU with regard to children’s rights, and in the priority are- port. The Office was represented by Deputy Commissioners Dr. as for the protection of the rights of the child were discussed, and Elisabeth Sándor-Szalay and Dr. Gyula Bándi, along with expert the future direction of the work was also identified. The forum held staff members at the professional meeting of the Ombudsmen of discussions on three parallel topics, which have priority in the work Hungary, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Poland, of the European Commission. These are the following: 1) protection which was organised in Bratislava. The key topics of this year of migrant children, 2) the rights of the child in an ever-changing included the trends of educational segregation and the possible digital world, and 3) the participation of children and young people ways to achieve desegregation; the child protection systems and in the political and democratic life of the EU. It was in relation to this challenges and opportunities related to the status of foster par- that the 23rd annual conference of ENOC was held in the autumn, ents; homelessness and the right to housing; damages incurred which focused on the topic of digital child protection. in administrative competence.