Comunicado de prensa n° 23/20

Luxemburgo, 3 de marzo de 2020

Los tribunales españoles deberán asegurarse del carácter claro y comprensible de las cláusulas de contratos de préstamo hipotecario que establezcan la aplicación de un tipo de interés variable basado en el índice de referencia de las cajas de ahorros

Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-03/cp200023es.pdf

North Yorkshire County Council has failed to carry out a financial assessment it had agreed to undertake following an earlier upheld complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The council had agreed to complete the disability related expenditure assessment of a young woman, to include her housing and transport costs, following her complaint to the Ombudsman in 2018.

However, despite visiting the woman to assess her needs in July 2018, the council then failed to share the assessment with the woman or her parents until the Ombudsman intervened again in October 2019.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“This delay has prevented the family from challenging the council’s assessment and its calculations for 15 months. While the family has not lost out financially by the delay, they have been left uncertain about the true level of support they should have been receiving.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s role is to remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council should apologise to the parents for not completing the assessment for 15 months after the agreed deadline.

It has also offered to pay the family £250 for their unnecessary time and trouble in pursuing the matter.

Article date: 04 March 2020

nvito a riporre fiducia nel sistema sanitario e nelle istituzioni. Previsto un incontro anche con il direttore dell’Ufficio scolastico regionale per una verifica del calendario delle lezioni, con l’auspicio che vengano apportate tutte le modifiche del caso senza influire sul percorso degli studenti. Lettera ai direttori degli istituti penitenziari marchigiani affinché vengano rispettate le norme precauzionali

“Non cadere nel panico, ma nello stesso tempo compiere scelte determinate a tutela della salute dei cittadini, visto l’aggravarsi della situazione legata al diffondersi del Coronavirus”. A parlare è il Garante dei diritti, Andrea Nobili, che invita a riporre “fiducia nei confronti del sistema sanitario, nel personale medico e paramedico che, con incommensurabile impegno e dedizione, lavora quotidianamente per il bene dell’intera comunità. Non può mancare un nostro ringraziamento incondizionato”.

Secondo il Garante stessa fiducia va rivolta alle istituzioni che, pur tra mille difficoltà, “stanno affrontando un’emergenza straordinaria. In questa direzione è da apprezzare la scelta della Regione Marche di emanare una nuova ordinanza, che dispone la sospensione delle attività didattiche e delle manifestazioni pubbliche su tutto il territorio regionale”.

Tra gli interventi predisposti dal Garante un incontro con il direttore dell’Ufficio scolastico regionale per “monitorare il quadro complessivo anche sul versante del calendario delle lezioni. L’auspicio è che il Ministero e chi di competenza apporti a quest’ultimo tutte le modifiche del caso, affinché gli studenti non abbiano a registrare conseguenze sul loro percorso scolastico”.

Lettera anche ai direttori degli istituti penitenziari marchigiani con l’invito a “rispettare scrupolosamente le raccomandazioni contenute nei provvedimenti del Dipartimento dell’Amministrazione Penitenziaria in materia di prevenzione, contenimento e gestione dell’emergenza epidemiologica da Covid – 19” ed a porre in

essere “tutte le misure e le indicazioni relative alla sanificazione degli ambienti e alla diffusione di norme igieniche”.

Nell’ambito della prevenzione si invita a “richiedere al personale che entra in Istituto autodichiarazioni di non aver avuto contatti a rischio ed a predisporre strumenti che possano rilevare la temperatura corporea di chi entra nella struttura penitenziaria”.

Il Garante fa presente che “le segnalazioni di diffusione del virus nel territorio nazionale e regionale “inducono ad elevare il livello di allerta ed a rafforzare, in collaborazione con il personale dell’area sanitaria intrapenitenziaria, le misure di protezione negli istituti”.

A.Is.

The Ombudsman has recently addressed the issue of parents who do not wish to vaccinate their children, despite the fact that there are no medical contraindications. In its recommendations addressed to individuals, the Ombudsman notes that in any case the need for vaccinations is underlined by the World Health Organization as the most important weapon against serious diseases which are dangerous for individual as well as public health, thus reducing the morbidity in the general population.

Additional Files

• Mediation briefing - 252 KB

n recent years, the alleged excessive display of power by officers through the use of physical force against non-opposing persons and the public display of special measures used against them has raised considerable public concern. However, the seriousness of the situation has been revealed by the data of the Prosecutor General's Office, which shows that even though the number of complaints about alleged excessive use of physical violence by officers is high, it is difficult to investigate such cases due to the misuse or non-use of technical video recorders by officers.

In his report, the Seimas Ombudsman paid great attention to the provisions of the Convoy Rules that were interpreted differently during the practice of officers, when convoying detainees the officers used handcuffs, physical and psychological violence even in those cases when the detainee did not oppose or raise danger and complied with lawful instructions or demands of the officer.

“By systemic evaluation of provisions of the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania special measures such as handcuffs, means of detention or restraint, may be used by the officials even in the case when there is no imminent danger; however, only when the person does not comply with the officer's lawful instructions or requirements or otherwise opposes the officer. In addition, physical abuse can only be applied after warning of the intention to use physical abuse and allowing a person to fulfill the legitimate requirements of an officer,” observes Augustinas Normantas, Head of the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office.

When the Police Department expressed its opinion that under the conditions set out in the Convoy Rules there was an imperative duty for officers to use handcuffs or means of restraint, the Seimas Ombudsman noted that such an interpretation of the provisions was incompatible with the state’s international human rights obligations, since it is the obligation of the police officer to use any coercion only in cases of official necessity.

Another problem that the Seimas Ombudsman identified as a particularly sensitive issue is the emerging practice of denying the presumption of innocence when suspects or accused persons are presented as guilty in court or in public, disproportionately using means of physical restraint. In his report, the Seimas Ombudsman notes that the Constitutional Court has emphasized that the presumption of innocence is one of the most important guarantees of implementation of justice in a democratic state under the rule of law. Moreover, it is an integral guarantee of human rights and freedoms.

“The public handcuffing of a person in the presence of others without any evidence that he or she raised danger or opposed shall be considered an act equating to degrading treatment. It is also noteworthy that the use of handcuffs in practice must in no way take the form of a demonstration of power or public display of the handcuffed person. In all cases, the use of physical restraint against a suspected or accused person who does not oppose to officers is not compatible with international human rights standards,” adds the Seimas Ombudsman.

The report also points out that international human rights standards recommend that officers record and report on the use of coercion in their activities; however, the findings show that there is still a problem of non-use, misuse, and non-availability of technical video recorders at a time when officers are using violence against individuals. According to the Seimas Ombudsman, such practice of law enforcement officers creates preconditions for the risk of human rights violations.

 At the end of the report, the Seimas Ombudsman draws the attention of the Minister of Justice Elvinas Jankevičius and the Minister of the Interior Rita Tamašunienė to the need to change the Convoy Rules so as to ensure that the officers, in exercising their right to use special measures, do not exceed their powers. Also, the Seimas Ombudsman drew the attention of the Minister of Justice to the exceptional need to ensure proper transfer of the presumption of innocence into national law in order to prevent suspects and accused persons from being shown at court or in public as guilty by publicly using means of physical restraint against them.

The Seimas Ombudsmen protect a person‘s right to good public administration securing human rights and freedoms, and supervise fulfilment by state authorities of their duty to properly serve the people. The Seimas Ombudsmen also conduct national prevention of torture in places of deprivation of liberty in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Seimas Ombudsmen's Office is a national human rights institution accredited by the United Nations.