Péter Molnár, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS), was one of the panelists at the 2011 Rafto Symposium on November 4. The Rafto Foundation is a Norwegian non-profit organisation dedicated to the global promotion of human rights. Every year since 1987, it awards the Rafto Prize to advocates of human rights and democracy. The 2011 Rafto Prize was awarded to Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), represented by Frank Mugisha, Executive Director of SMUG.
Péter Molnár himself received the Rafto Prize in 1989 on behalf of Fidesz, the Hungarian alliance of young democrats founded in 1988, which played an important role in the transition to democracy and initially became a liberal party in 1990. Molnar was one of its founders and one of its members of leadership at that time.
The Rafto Foundation's overview of laureates notes that "for the Rafto Foundation, Péter Molnár represents the liberal spirit of the organization that was awarded in 1989".
In his contribution at the seminar this year, Peter focused on enabling policies for safeguarding human rights in general and promoting diversity and respecting freedom of speech in particular. Peter has been researching and teaching about enabling policies for freedom of speech since 1994.