Es necesario que sea equitativo, inclusivo y no segregador

La síndica de greuges de Cataluña, Esther Giménez-Salinas, y la adjunta de Infancia, Aida C. Rodríguez, han debatido esta tarde en el Parlamento catalán el informe La universalización del ocio educativo en Catalunya, publicado en abril.

Durante su intervención, la síndica ha destacado que “el ocio educativo es esencial para el desarrollo integral de los niños, mejora sus competencias sociales, personales y educativas y, por ende, es necesario que deje de ser un privilegio para devenir un derecho garantizado para todos”.

El informe aporta algunos datos que muestran que, a pesar de los avances puntuales, el ocio educativo no es todavía un derecho universal en Cataluña. Su acceso sigue marcado por desigualdades económicas, sociales y territoriales. Así, el 34,5 % no participa en actividades extraescolares deportivas y el 58,1% no hace ninguna actividad extraescolar no deportiva. Además, es preocupante que solo el 20 % participe en actividades de ocio durante el mes de julio.

Los datos del documento ponen sobre la mesa que el ocio educativo no llega a todos los niños, especialmente a los de familias vulnerables, a adolescentes y a niños con discapacidad.

Principales déficits detectados

El informe señala varias carencias estructurales:

• Ausencia de un marco legal específico para el derecho al ocio educativo.
• Falta de coordinación y liderazgo institucional en estas políticas.
• Desigualdad en las ayudas económicas municipales: más del 57 % de los ayuntamientos no ofrecen becas para actividades extraescolares, y más del 66 % no tienen ayudas para niños con discapacidad.
• Baja calificación de los educadores: el 66,4 % no tiene la titulación adecuada.
• Inversión insuficiente: 217,5 euros anuales por niño, que queda lejos de los 5.223 euros que se destinan a la educación reglada.

Recomendaciones

La institución del Síndic de Greuges propone un conjunto de medidas para garantizar el acceso universal al ocio educativo:

• Regular el derecho al ocio en igualdad de oportunidades.
• Eliminar barreras económicas y garantizar ayudas suficientes.
• Impulsar una política integral con perspectiva de género, equidad territorial e inclusión.
• Incorporar la voz de niños y adolescentes en la planificación.
• Garantizar el acceso de los niños con necesidades educativas especiales.
• Revisar y actualizar los protocolos de protección infantil en el ámbito de ocio educativo.

The Public Defender expresses his sorrow over the casualties caused by the collapse of the facade of a residential building located on Tevdore Mghvdeli Street in Tbilisi on July 14. According to reports, two people lost their lives and one person sustained health injuries. The Public Defender expresses his condolences to the family members of the deceased and their relatives.

According to the Tbilisi City Hall, the building located on Tevdore Mghvdeli Street was assigned the third category of dilapidation. For years, citizens living in various categories of damaged houses have been addressing the Public Defender's Office with regard to their right to live in a safe environment. Despite the existence of a rule for replacing dilapidated multi-apartment residential buildings in the territory of Tbilisi Municipality, many families have to live in a dangerous environment for years. It is worth emphasizing that such dilapidated buildings pose a danger to both residents and citizens who may be moving and/or working nearby. Cases studied over the years show that dealing with this systemic problem requires timely and effective steps, which the existing legislative guarantees and programmes cannot provide.

The Public Defender’s Office has launched an examination of the incident on Tevdore Mghvdeli Street and will study issues related to the right of residents of dilapidated buildings and other citizens to live in a safe environment and the measures taken/to be taken by the responsible agencies.

In 2024 and early 2025, the Parliamentary Ombudsman received several complaints concerning the processing of applications for international protection submitted by Russian asylum seekers. The most important criticism in the complaints concerned exceeding the absolute maximum processing time of 21 months laid down in the Aliens Act.

Deputy-Ombudsman Mikko Sarja separately investigated four complaints and also requested that the Ministry of the Interior and the Finnish Immigration Service provide a more general report on the situation in the processing of matters concerning international protection and which measures they intended to take with regard to the situation with processing times. 

In the matters that resulted in the Deputy-Ombudsman's criticism, the processing times had been at least 24–28 months from when the applications had been submitted to the Finnish Immigration Service. The Deputy-Ombudsman reprimanded the agency for unlawful conduct. However, the cases in which the applications had been returned to the Finnish Immigration Service from administrative courts did not lead to any measures.

The Finnish Immigration Service already took several measures to shorten the processing times in 2024, and the Ministry of the Interior monitors the implementation of the processing time targets in its monthly performance monitoring meetings as well as yearly and half-yearly in connection with the performance target negotiations. 

According to the Deputy-Ombudsman, in spite of the positive aspects stated above, the report received and the observations made on the basis of individual complaints supported the conclusion that the public authorities have not been able to sufficiently secure the requirement of lawful processing in the processing of applications for international protection. The Deputy-Ombudsman therefore decided to further monitor how the measures taken by the Finnish Immigration Service affect the processing times of applications and has requested that the Ministry for the Interior notify him of the matter by the end of the year.

The Deputy-Ombudsman’s decision no 3806/2025 has been published (in Finnish) on the website www.oikeusasiamies.fi.

The Ombudsman has published a Thematic Report on noise control which identifies the main problems found and presents a set of recommendations on an issue which, despite its significant impact on public health and quality of life in Portugal, is often undervalued by the public authorities, which contributes to a certain lack of civic awareness of the issue.

Under the motto “Noise control: Planning, managing and raising awareness”, the document identifies shortcomings in compliance with legal acoustic planning obligations, particularly in the case of large transport infrastructures, an omission that continues to expose thousands of people to harmful noise levels. It also points out shortcomings in the licensing of noisy activities and an excessively tolerant attitude on the part of the authorities towards offences.

The report ends with a set of concrete recommendations addressed to the central state, local authorities and other entities with responsibility in this area.

These include a call for the process of approving and implementing a National Strategy for Environmental Noise to be finalised, for more active municipal inspections, for schools to be involved in raising awareness among the school community and for investment in the acoustic comfort of buildings.

Although aimed primarily at the competent authorities, the report also aims to reach citizens, emphasising the importance of information and awareness of the risks of noise and the forms of protection available against what is now considered the second biggest environmental risk factor for health in Europe.

The full report can be read here [In Portuguese only].