Im vorpommerschen Wilhelmsburg am Rande der Friedländer Großen Wiese haben sich gestern, am 17. Mai 2018, die Mitglieder des Petitionsausschusseses getroffen, um vor Ort mit den Petenten ins Gespräch zu kommen. Diese hatte sich zuvor mit über 1000 Zuschriften hilfesuchend an den Ausschuss gewandt und gefordert, dass in der Friedländer Großen Wiese und dem Moldenhauer Bruch keine Windeignungsgebiete ausgewiesen werden.

Der Sprecher der Bürgerinitiative „Freie Friedländer Wiese“ würdigte zunächst das Engagement des Ausschusses, die Bürgerinnen und Bürger vor Ort anzuhören und sich mit ihren Argumenten auseinanderzusetzen, auch wenn die Entscheidung letztendlich beim Planungsverband liege. Die Petenten betonten vor allem die Artenvielfalt in diesem ökologisch sensiblen Gebiet, das mit dem angrenzenden Galenbecker See eine Einheit bilde. 100.000 Vögel würden jährlich durch die Friedländer Wiese ziehen, davon allein 25.000 Kraniche, so ein Petent, der als Ornithologe der Deutschen Wildtier Stiftung die dortigen Vogelkartierungen vornimmt. Auch würde der Bau von Windkraftanlagen einen in seinen Folgen unabsehbaren Eingriff in den Untergrund eines der größten Moorgebiete Deutschlands bedeuten, der den Zielen des vom Land aufgelegten Moorschutzprogramms zuwiderlaufe.

Der ebenfalls anwesende Vertreter des Regionalen Planungsverbandes Vorpommern verwies zunächst auf den bisherigen Planungsstand, der drei Windeignungsgebiete in diesem 11.000 Hektar großen Niedermoor vorsehe. Er führte jedoch auch aus, dass im Zuge der dritten Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung, die derzeit ausgewertet werde, neue naturschutzfachliche Argumente vorgebracht worden seien. Nach Abschluss der Auswertungen werde der Planungsverband voraussichtlich am 25. September seine Entscheidung zu den Windeignungsgebieten treffen. 

Im Anschluss an die intensiv und fachlich fundiert geführte Diskussion fuhren die Ausschussmitglieder in die Friedländer Wiese, wo ihnen ein Vertreter der unteren Naturschutzbehörde des Landkreises Vorpommern-Greifswald die ökologischen Besonderheiten des Gebietes zeigte. Auf einer Mehlprimelwiese wurde sodann mit einem Spatenstich ein Torfquerschnitt entnommen, der die Auswirkungen der Melioration auf die Torfstruktur zeigte. 

„Es ist immer besser, sich vor Ort ein Bild zu machen, als am grünen Tisch nach Aktenlage eine Entscheidung zu treffen", so der Vorsitzende des Petitionsausschusses, Manfred Dachner, der den Petenten zudem für ihren Einsatz und ihr Engagement dankte.

The Equality Body of the Czech Republic – the Ombudswoman – published the summary report for the year 2017 informing about her main activities in the field of protection against discrimination.

The Ombudswoman received 384 complaints concerning discrimination in 2017, most of them from the area of work and employment. In the year 2017, people mostly complained about discrimination on the grounds of disability. Ombudswoman established discrimination in 40 individual cases.

In the summary report 2017, you can find especially (but not only)

• The overview of the number of complaints received by the Ombudswoman in 2017
• The main problems people had mostly to deal with in the area of discrimination
• Concrete cases in which the Ombudswoman helped people who faced discrimination in their lives
• The overview of the most important cases in the field of anti-discrimination law of Czech courts, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU
• Legislative recommendations made by the Ombudswoman since 2013
• Cooperation of Ombudswoman with NGOs and international actors
• Information about the Survey concerning the work-life balance on the Czech Ministries
• More detailed information about the “topics of the year” such as protection against discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity and nationality, combating hate speech, rights of parents, rights of HIV positive people, etc. 

The summary report specifically deals with raising awareness activities of Ombudswoman and some welcome developments made by various stakeholders.

The summary report on the protection against discrimination was sent to administrative bodies, legislators, NGOs, social partners, academic experts and international organizations.

Contact person: petr.polak@ochrance.cz

I am delighted to be here in the Basque country today to engage with this important topic.  I am especially pleased that we have been joined today by the President of the Basque Country, Mr Urkullu, Ms Tejeria, the President of the Parliament and other senior representatives.  Your presence is evidence of the importance of the topic and of the appreciation there is for the Office of the Ararteko.

The Office of the Ararteko is also widely renowned and highly regarded within the Ombudsman community in Europe and internationally.  The Office is innovative and energetic.  It has consistently brought a distinctive slant to the debate among the Ombudsman community and has highlighted topics which have been of great significance, including playing a leading part in underlining the role of the Ombudsman in respect of LGBTI rights.

It is very appropriate therefore that the Ararteko is hosting this conference here in the Basque country.  The role of the Ombudsman in developing good environmental governance has been long established, but rarely the subject of such detailed consideration.

I want to start with an anecdote.  Some years ago, while I was Ombudsman in Wales, I attended the Royal opening of the Welsh Assembly which follows each election.  I stood in the receiving line, and shook hands with the Queen, and then Prince Charles.  He asked what I did, and I explained that I was the Ombudsman.  In response, he said that he expected I got a lot of complaints about planning, and especially windmills.  He wasn’t wrong!  I see that we have a reference to wind turbines in one of our workshops, which is very appropriate.

The work of the Ombudsman inevitably includes environmental issues.  It may be in respect of local services, such as refuse collection, in planning where issues such as the development of wind farms are often raised, in public housing, in the proliferation of fish farms or in land use.  The Zambian Ombudsman, for example, is dealing with complaints about the implications of mining development, where people are being moved from their homes to make way for mines and where water sources are being polluted.

The IOI is currently working to develop and strengthen our links with the UN.  We are the only global Ombudsman organisation with almost 190 members in more than 90 countries worldwide.  To further our quest for stronger links, and to raise awareness of the work of the IOI and the Ombudsman community worldwide, we launched the publication marking our 40^th anniversary in a meeting at the UN.  We will also be holding an event to mark this important anniversary at the European Region Conference in Brussels in September.

The key policy drivers for the UN at the moment are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the so-called Agenda 2030.  In my speech at the launch, I observed that it is self-evident that all of the roles of the Ombudsman, in promoting good administration, in securing human rights, in promoting openness and transparency, in fighting corruption, in creating access to justice and in upholding the rule of law allow us to make a unique and vital contribution to ensuring the success of Agenda 2030, especially in the context of Goal 16, which speaks about the vital role of good governance in delivering a sustainable future.  Our Offices can and do “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”  Providing access to an objective, free and fair means of resolving complaints, not least those about environmental matters means that the Ombudsman can ensure that environmental rights are respected, and that redress is provided and things are put right when they’re not.

Access to information about the environment is critical, if people are to be able to determine whether there is a case for complaint, and also in ensuring transparency and openness in environmental planning matters.  In Ireland, I also hold the post of Commissioner for Environmental Information to enable people to exercise their rights under the Aarhus Convention.  I review decisions by public authorities to refuse access to information on the environment.  The access to environmental information regime is the first pillar of three, the other two being public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters.

The underlying assumption of the Convention is that people at large should be able to participate in planning for a sustainable future, and in order to do so, should be able to inform themselves about environmental matters.  Making information available in this way enables people and communities to participate in an informed way in the decisions affecting their futures.

I see requests about a wide variety of topics, from waste incineration to the use of the Government Lear jet.  It’s fair to say that environmental and community activists can be very creative in their use of the AIE regime.  They work very hard to stretch the definitions of environmental information and public authority.

Many important issues are brought to public attention in this way, such as the loss of many tens of thousands of salmon from fish farms, the routing of power cables and the infrastructure associated with the development of data centres and of course, information on wind farms.

The third pillar of the convention, on access to justice, is where the traditional Ombudsman role comes to the fore.  The President of the High Court in Ireland was recently reported as remarking that access to the court was only available to the very wealthy, or to paupers who could get legal aid.  Now in fact, while many people do represent themselves in the courts, the cost of hiring lawyers can be very expensive, and even if you do represent yourself, the possibility of having to pay the other side’s costs if you lose can be a serious disincentive.  This is where the Ombudsman, with free access and an objective, inquisitorial approach, can provide access to justice which might otherwise be denied.

Today and tomorrow, we will hear many examples of this work which will both resonate with us when we have already had similar cases ourselves or also alert us to areas of work and approaches we can seek to embrace in the future. 

The benefits of a good environment will be very familiar to those who know the Basque country.  With its beautiful scenery, vibrant and historic cities, wonderful culture, the best food in the world and warm and generous people, we know that we undertake our work in a very attractive setting.

My thanks again to the Ararteko and his team for putting this excellent programme together.  I look forward to learning and being inspired, so that we can all go from here to redouble our efforts to build a sustainable future for all.

Stationäre Jugendhilfeeinrichtungen: Bürgerbeauftragte fordert Schulpflicht für Kinder aus anderen Bundesländern

Die Bürgerbeauftragte für soziale Angelegenheiten Samiah El Samadoni begrüßt in ihrer Funktion als Ombudsperson in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe den Gesetzentwurf der Abgeordneten des SSW zur Änderung des Schulgesetzes. „Ich unterstütze die Forderung, eine Schulpflicht auch für Kinder und Jugendliche aus anderen Bundesländern, die in Schleswig-Holstein in stationären Jugendhilfeeinrichtungen leben, einzuführen. Nur so kann eine zügige Erfassung und Beschulung dieser Kinder und Jugendlichen im öffentlichen Schulsystem gewährleistet werden.“

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