Ákos Kozma

Ákos Kozma has held the constitutional office of ombudsman — Hungary's Commissioner for Fundamental Rights — since 2019, a post meant to independently protect citizens' rights against the authorities. Civil-rights groups (TASZ, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee) documented that Kozma left their submissions unanswered for years and routinely declined to open investigations into sensitive matters. One of the best-documented cases concerns the restriction of assembly rights during the COVID-19 pandemic: the organizations asked him to investigate the assembly ban and police conduct toward protesters, and after ten months of silence Kozma announced he would not open an investigation, citing lack of jurisdiction — a claim the rights groups disputed, arguing jurisdiction is not lacking when the government itself is the legislator. The inaction had international consequences: in May 2022 the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) downgraded Hungary's ombudsman office from 'A' to 'B' status, stripping it of voting rights, after Kozma failed within a six-month grace period to demonstrate independence from the government. The international assessment specifically found that his office does not adequately address numerous human-rights problems, including violations affecting vulnerable ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, refugees and migrants.