Transfer of an asylum seeker to Hungary In light of an individual complaint regarding a pending forced return of an asylum seeker to Hungary, the AOB has been vigilantly following the reports about Hungary since January 2012. Apart from this investigative activity that was initially on a caseby-case basis, a Commission visited an Afghan family in the family housing in the Zinnergasse. The planned forced return of the family of five to Hungary had previously failed because the mother had suffered a self-inflicted injury. The family stated that it had entered Austria via Hungary and had spent one month in detention pending forced return. Their cell had not had any furnishings and their sick children had not received any medical attention. The father related that his brother had been transferred from Hungary to Serbia as part of a chain of deportations. The Commission stated that it considered the (planned) forced return of the family to Hungary alarming. Reports from international NGOs gave rise to doubts that the Hungarian asylum system offers sufficient protection. According to a report by the UNHCR from October 2012, asylum seekers who have travelled via Serbia are at risk of a chain of deportations to Serbia. According to the UNHCR, Serbia is not deemed a safe third country (i.e. a country outside the EU). The Federal Ministry of the Interior considers a general ban of deportations to Hungary unnecessary; however, it emphasised that the situation for asylum seekers in each EU member country is evaluated if necessary. Reports of the human advisory council The new Human Rights Advisory Council's understanding of its role Advisory function The Human Rights Advisory Council is a new body with an advisory function to assist in the fulfilment of the competences with which the AOB, as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), has been charged; these competences include the prevention of torture and abuse in Austria, prevention of any form of exploitation, violence and abuse in institutions and facilities, as well as programmes that have been established for persons with disabilities. Its legal foundation is in the Act on the Implementation of the OPCAT, which builds on already wellknown structures. The model for this advisory body was the Human Rights Advisory Council that had operated within the Federal Ministry 56