A/HRC/44/42/Add.1 category “detention prior to expulsion” can be ordered for six months and prolonged by six months in exceptional cases if the third country national is not cooperating or if the documents for return cannot be obtained owing to a lack of cooperation on the part of the foreign authorities.9 19. Act XXXI of 1997 on Child Protection Guardianship Administration (Child Protection Act) aims at setting rules to guarantee the protection of the rights of children. The Act defines the aims and organization of the child protection services and sets out the principle of non-discrimination in the protection of children. The Act contains provisions on childcare benefits and aims to ensure children’s rights to “physical, intellectual, emotional and moral development”. While the Hungarian Civil Code provides that a minor is a person under the age of 18, the provisions of the Child Protection Act are not applicable to children of or above 14 years of age, in case of a mass migration crisis. 2. National institutional framework 20. The Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights was created in 1995 and received status “A” accreditation from the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions in 2014. The accreditation was reviewed in 2019 by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation, which later decided to defer the review to its second session of 2020. Although the Office deals with all human rights issues, it pays particular attention to issues that deal with “the rights of children, the rights of nationalities living in Hungary, the rights of the most vulnerable social groups and the values determined as ‘the interests of future generations’”. The Ombudsperson is responsible for preparing an annual report that is submitted to the parliament detailing the human rights activities undertaken by the Office and the statistics gathered that year. 21. The National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing is an independent budgetary authority under the Ministry of the Interior. It was established on 1 January 2000. It changed to its current name and has been operating as a law enforcement agency since 1 July 2019. The responsibilities of the Directorate-General continue to be matters related to “the entry, stay and settlement of foreign nationals”.10 At the time of the visit, it was also responsible for managing reception centres in Vámosszabadi, Kiskunhalas, Balassagyarmat and Nyírbátor. The Directorate-General also works with other government offices, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and foreign permanent missions, national educational institutions and employment bodies to assist with issuing visas for foreigners, enrolling foreign children in schools and assisting foreign adults to secure work opportunities. IV. Asylum procedures and the transit zones A. Declaration of a crisis situation and establishment of the transit zones 22. In September 2015, the Government of Hungary declared a “crisis situation due to mass immigration” in two counties on its southern border. Six months later, in March 2016, the scope of the crisis situation was expanded to the entire territory of Hungary. Since then, it has been continuously extended every six months. 23. Since the declaration of the “crisis situation due to mass immigration”, a number of legislative amendments have been introduced in response. Legislation was expedited through the parliament amending the Act on State Borders to permit the establishment of “transit zones” at the borders of Hungary that constitute an external border of the Schengen area. Consequently, on 15 September 2015, two transit zones on the southern border with Serbia became operational, one at Röszke, the other one at Tompa. 24. In March 2017, additional amendments applicable during the “crisis situation due to mass immigration” were introduced to the Asylum Act through Act XX of 2017 on the 9 10 6 See Global Detention Project, “Hungary immigration detention profile”, September 2016. See http://bevandorlas.hu/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=391:introduction&Itemid =666&lang=en.