On the occasion of the visit of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities in Békés County the representatives of the Slovakian Local Government of Tótkomlós called the attention of the ombudsman to the unsettled situation of the Farm Museum of their settlement.

The daily tasks related to the operation and visits of the Farm Museum have been undertaken by the Slovakian Local Government. At the same time the proprietary of the Museum, which is the legal successor of a former agricultural co-operative, announced its intention to withdraw the contractual right to use last year.

The complainants asked for the action of the ombudsman as they were afraid that the preservation of the cultural values the farm building and its collection represent for the Slovakian community may be endangered.

The settlement of Tótkomlós is one of the centres of the Slovakian community in Hungary with rich ethnic traditions.

Slovakian Double-Tongue Primary School and kindergarten is functioning in the settlement, and several Slovakian exhibition places can also be found, like the Slovakian Land House built in 1886 from sun-dried brick, the Slovakian Memorial House and the Ethnographical Collection.

The collection of the concerned Farm Museum has been continuously enriched from its foundation in 1980. In year 2007, almost 500 folk art exhibits and pieces relating to the traditional way of life of peasants and farmers were taken in stock.

The authentic collection represents in its unity irreplaceable cultural values for the Slovakian community.

The ombudsman has launched an investigation in order to disclose whether due to the withdrawal of the user's rights of the Farm Museum the violation or the direct threat of the violation of the concerned Slovakian community's rights to the promotion of its own culture (stipulated by Article 68 paragraph 2 of the Hungarian Constitution) can be established or not.

In the course of his inquiry the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities learned that the proprietary firm and the Slovakian Local Government had already started conciliation in the Farm Museum case with the mediation of the mayor. As a result of the negotiations a solution acceptable for both parties has started to be sketched. Considering all these results and closing his inquiry the ombudsman has drawn up proposals the realization of which could ensure the long-term lawful operation of the Farm Museum.

He called the attention to the fact that the data originally presented in the operational permit of the Farm Museum have meanwhile changed, the denomination of the maintainer is not punctual and the collecting area has not even been made appear. Therefore the primary condition of the future lawful operation of the exhibition place is that the proprietary request the Ministry of Education and Culture to renew the operational permit of the Museum which is necessary by reason of data changes.

For the sake of the lawful operation of the exhibition place it would be necessary that the proprietary firm ask for the assistance of the ethnographical musicological technical supervision organized and directed by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Taking the aforementioned measures is an urgent task, because if the deviation from the rules of the operational permit and the relating professional provisions further continues, the Minister may withdraw the operational permit of the Farm Museum on the basis of Section 40 of Act CXL of 1997.

In order to prevent the violation of the constitutional right of the Slovakian community of Tótkomlós to the promotion of its own culture, and on the basis of Section 21 of Act LIX of 1993 on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights (Ombudsman Act) the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities initiated the maintainer firm to take as the proprietary of the Museum the measures necessary for the lawful operation of the Farm Museum and to ask for the assistance of the ethnographical musicological technical supervision for that. According to the ombudsman the maintainer should also conclude a written agreement with the Slovakian Local Government of Tótkomlós for ensuring the suitability for visits and the possibility for Slovakian language guided tours.

On the basis of Section 21 of the Ombudsman Act the ombudsman also initiated that the Slovakian Local Government strive for concluding an agreement on the Farm Museum with the proprietary firm, and repeal the local governmental decree on the Foundation Deed of the Slovakian Local Government.

For promoting the realization of his aforementioned proposals the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities recommended the Minister of Education and Culture to pay in its supervisory competence an emphasised attention to the settlement of the problems cited by the ombudsman's report in a way where the culture, traditions and minority rights of the Slovakian minority community is respected. He also asked the Minister to provide professional assistance for ensuring the lawful operation of the Farm Museum.

The Minister of Education and Culture expressed his thanks to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities for calling his attention to these problems, agreed with the conclusions of the ombudsman's inquiry and his proposals. The Minister instructed the professionally competent Public Collection Department to personally get in touch with the concerned and initiate harmonization for redressing the emerged problems. The Minister of Education and Culture also designated as a task that the issuing procedure of the new operational permit shall be followed with stressed attention as well as the realization of conditions destined for the insurance of the further proper and effective operation of the Museum.