E/CN.4/2000/16/Add.1 page 27 origin. In March 1999, four human rights non-governmental organizations, the Roma Civil Rights Foundation, the European Roma Rights Centre, the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, conducted an investigation in this district, which revealed that police methods in Hajdúhadház were humiliating and brutal towards Gypsies. They often included beatings, physical injury and forced interrogation. The High Commissioner of the Hungarian National Police is investigating the situation and it appears that legal proceedings have been started against 15 police officers from this district. 4. Discrimination in the administration of justice 120. The biased attitude of judges towards the Roma is another problem area which was brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur. As in the case of local councils, it is very hard to find proof of this bias. The situation is further complicated by the fact that, as a result of the fundamental requirement concerning the independence of the judiciary, the Parliamentary Commissioner is not authorized to examine the activity and decisions of judges, although a significant percentage of the complaints are filed against them (29 out of 270 in 1998). The Parliamentary Commissioner’s 1998 report asks whether this solution is compatible with freedom of opinion. However, the regulation excluding the courts from the Parliamentary Commissioner’s sphere of scrutiny is unlikely to be modified. 5. Discrimination in the provision of services and access to public places 121. Numerous cases of discrimination against Gypsies concerning entry into restaurants, shops and discotheques have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur. Such cases were reported in February 1997, in a shop in the town of Bogács (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county), December 1997, in a discotheque in the town of Polgard, and July 1998, in a shop in the village of Komárom-Esztergom. Details of these cases and many others can be found in the report of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee - Roma Press Centre entitled “Chronicle of everyday events: a year in the life of Roma in Hungary”, and in the 1998 report published by the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI). C. Measures taken by the Government 122. The Hungarian Government is tackling the problems facing the Gypsies in a determined manner and for this purpose has adopted measures in the political, legal and institutional areas as well as in the areas of the economy, housing, health, education and culture. The police have also initiated reforms in order to change its officers’ behaviour towards Gypsies. Medium- and long-term strategies have been designed to reach the targets contained in these measures. The details and accuracy of the information provided by the Government in its January 1999 report to the Council of Europe on the implementation of the framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities are evidence of the efforts it is making to put an end to the situations described above. 1. Measures in the political, legal and institutional areas 123. In 1993, Parliament promulgated the National and Ethnic Minorities Act (No. LXXVII), article 5 of which stipulates, among other things, that under the Constitution, minorities have the