COOPERATION AGREEMENT

signed between the Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minority Rights (hereinafter: Minorities Commissioner) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (hereinafter: MSAL) with the aim of providing the opportunity for clients living in the provinces to make complaints through the National Equal Opportunities Network (hereinafter: network).

1. Reason for creating the outreach system.

Since the start of the Minority Commissioner' work, a strong inequality has been observable in the regional distribution of cases, revealing (based on the addresses of the complaints) both strong city-centricity and Budapest-centricity, with more than half of the complaints coming from Budapest.

This implies the high likelihood that there is a large sphere of (potential) complainants, for whom our office is not accessible, firstly due to the difficulties and high cost of travelling and secondly lack of awareness of our office (including our competency and our contact information). In order to enforce the generally accepted public administration legal principle of proximity to clients, the need has arisen to ensure that as many potential clients as possible be able to exercise the right of turning to the Minorities Commissioner in the proximity of their place of residence (or workplace). We are speaking of a (potential) sphere of clients who possess extremely little or incorrect information concerning the possibilities of enforcing their rights, and who moreover due to anxiety caused by their social situation, health situation or "otherness" are hindered in settling their grievances by legal means. 

The Network was set up in order to offer greater opportunities to disadvantaged target groups, who for some reason are not capable in themselves of grasping the career possibilities generally accepted in society.  There is no question that the majority of the Minorities Commissioner's sphere of clients come from those social groups which are most afflicted by lack of equal opportunities. It can, therefore, justifiably be assumed that due to the physical proximity and greater familiarity with the Network - whose profile is extremely many-sided, many more people than at present will feel the courage to raise their complaints and grievances on the spot, thereby providing a greater chance of remedying these.

2. Undertakings

Based on the current agreement, the MSAL undertakes the following:

• - to provide the opportunity for clients to register their complaints in every county - excepting Budapest and Pest county - on a least two occasions every week in the offices of the House of Opportunities through its staff concerning issues which fall under the competency of the Minorities Commissioner. The members of the network will provide detailed information about this fact - through all communications tools at their disposal - and will feature this new task in their client service, organizational and operational regulations,
• - that its staff will forward the records of the complaints to the Office of the Minorities Commissioner electronically not later than the day following the complaint being recorded, and will ensure that other documents are sent without delay,
• - to inform complainants about the possibilities of enforcing their rights and interests,
• - on request to provide informative assistance to the staff of the Minorities Commissioner if an investigation takes place on the bass of the complaint, or if the domicile (place of residence) of those concerned is not known to the Minorities Commissioner.

Based on the current agreement, the Minorities Commissioner undertakes the following:

• - to personally take part in the "opening" at certain designated offices, and ensure appropriate publicity, including publicizing the sphere of tasks belonging to the profile of the Network
• - in the office of the Minorities Commissioner, or on occasion at the given county seat according to a schedule accepted in the course of later talks - to offer minority rights training to designated staff of the Network, including the regulations concerning the tasks, powers and procedures of the Ombudsmen, the definition of minorities by law, the essence of the minority election and self-governance system, and further to present and evaluate typical complaint cases from the Minorities Commissioner's previous practice, which can make it easier for the staff of the network to gain an understanding of questions of competence
• - to provide informative materials and leaflets to the Network, which in an easily comprehensible way introduce the work of the ombudsmen, in particular of the Minorities Commissioner, with emphasis on the system for dealing with complaints,
• - based on demand and following prior arrangement, to take part in person or through his staff in the Network's equal opportunities or minority rights education programmes, including participation in professional conferences on this topic.

The Parties declare that they agree with the contents of the present Cooperation Agreement, and sign their approval.

January, 2008 Budapest

Dr Ernő Kállai

Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minority Rights

Dr Mónika Lamperth

Minister of Social Affairs and Labour