61
9.
Legislation-related powers of the NPM
Pursuant to Article 19 of the OPCAT, the NPM has to be granted the power to
submit “proposals and observations” concerning “existing or draft legislation.”
9.1.
Powers related to the prevailing legal regulations
9.1.1. Recommendations made in the NPM’s reports
I exercise the NPM’s power to submit “proposals and observation” concerning
the prevailing legal regulations mainly in the form of recommendations put
forward in my reports on the inspections.
If the ill-treatment or the danger thereof uncovered in the course of the NPM’s
visits can be attributed to a superfluous, ambiguous or inappropriate provision of
a legal rule, or to the lack or deficiency of the legal regulation of the given matter,
I may propose that the legislator modify, repeal or issue the legal rule.162 In my
reports on the NPM’s visits published in 2016, I made 24 legislative proposals.163
As National Preventive Mechanism, I exercised for the first time my power
under which I may submit a case to Parliament within the framework of my
annual report164 if I do not agree with the position of or the measure taken
by the authority subject to inquiry or its supervisory organ165 in the Annual
Report for 2016.166
The reason behind my decision was that during the inspection of the Central Prison Hospital I had found convicts under different regimes treated in the
same ward whose door was closed around the clock.167 In my report, I pointed
out that cells and other accommodation units “may be periodically open, in accor162
163
164
165
166
167
See Section 37 of the Ombudsman Act.
In 2016, in the course of my general activities aimed at protecting fundamental rights and
while performing my tasks as NPM I made altogether 73 legislative proposal.
See Section 38, Subsection (1) of the Ombudsman Act.
See Section 38, Subsection (3) of the Ombudsman Act.
See the Annual Report on the Activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his
Deputies in 2016, p. 217 http://www.ajbh.hu/documents/10180/2613063/AJBH+Besz%C3%
A1mol%C3%B3+2016/7233e88b-d26c-a439-6b06-6905a291526e?version=1.0
See Report AJB-1424/2015.
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