36 5. Visits conducted by the NPM may interview, in addition to the head of the institution, any member of the institution’s personnel, as well as any other person present there at the time of the visit. Under Section 39/B, Subsection (4) of the Ombudsman Act, in the hearing of a person deprived of his/her liberty, “apart from the person who is given a hearing, no other person may participate, unless the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights authorized his/her participation.” Unlike the head and the staff members of the given place of detention, persons deprived of their liberty are not compelled to cooperate with the visiting delegation. The visiting delegation’s objective is to meet, if possible, all persons deprived of their liberty present at the given place of detention at the time of the visit. Members of the visiting delegations tried to hold confidential, tête-àtête interviews, but they had group hearings as well. In the case of those persons deprived of their liberty, who, due to their age, state of health or any other circumstance, were not able or willing to speak about their experiences as regards their detention, the visiting delegation inspected the conditions of their placement. My colleagues authorized to perform the tasks of the NPM visited the Cseppkõ (Dripstone) Children’s Home in Budapest on March 1–2, 2016. On the first day of the visit, planned for two days, the director complained that the Ombudsman’s earlier reports on the Home had contained conclusions as a result of which public perception of the institution had worsened.71 On the second day of the visit, the educa tor on duty took the children to an off-site playing ground irrespective of being notified earlier that one of the visiting delegation’s members would soon like to see the children in order to interview them. During the day, the educators took most of the children returning from school on off-site programs. Those few children who had returned to the Home from school had to go to the space exhibition in the Millenáris Cultural Center. The staff of the Children’s Home, referring to the space exhibition, prevented the children from being interviewed. According to one of the children, a staff member told them that the Ombudsman was visiting the Home because he wanted to have the children transferred to another institution. Several children claimed, each independently but unanimously, that they had no prior knowledge that the visit to the space exhibition would be mandatory.72 In response to the lack of cooperation on the personnel’s side, on April 26, 2016, the members of the visiting delegation interviewed the residents 71 72 See reports AJB-316/2011, AJB-457/2011. and AJB-3540/2011. See Report AJB-1603/2016.