The democratic opposition in Belarus, Guapinol activists and Berta Cáceres, and the archbishop of Mosul were shortlisted for the 2020 Sakharov Prize on Monday.

Following a joint vote by MEPs in the Foreign Affairs and Development committees on Monday 12 October, the finalists for the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought are:
 

• The democratic opposition in Belarus, represented by the Coordination Council, an initiative of brave women and political and civil society figures;
   
• Guapinol activists and Berta Cáceres in Honduras;
   
• Mgr Najeeb Moussa Michaeel, archbishop of Mosul, Iraq.
   

Next steps

The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents (President and political groups’ leaders) will select the final laureate on Thursday 22 October. The prize itself will be awarded in a ceremony in Parliament’s hemicycle on 16 December.

Background

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament. It was set up in 1988 to honour individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is named in honour of Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov and the prize money is 50 000 euros.

Last year, the prize was given to Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur economist fighting for the rights of China’s Uyghur minority.

A Calderdale woman, who has autism, claims the way Calderdale council mishandled her council tax relief made her ill, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was told.

The woman and her partner were students when they claimed council tax relief from Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.

This should have meant they did not have to pay tax. But despite the couple providing evidence on numerous occasions that they were both students, the council decided her partner was not a student, and therefore the couple would only receive a 25% discount.

This led to months of confusion where the council regularly required the same evidence from the couple, demanded different amounts to be paid and at times threatened to take them to court if they did not.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that when the woman complained to Calderdale council it took too long to respond to her and did not address most of the points she raised.

The council’s complaints policy says a named manager would investigate and respond to her, but this did not happen. Instead, the officer who dealt with her initial complaint responded with the same information.

This was not the first time the Ombudsman was aware of the council not following its complaints policy.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said

“Because of the council’s mishandling of this woman’s council tax bill and subsequent poor complaints response, the woman says she has been made ill – she is unable to work and fears receiving correspondence from the council.

“The council has one stage in its complaints procedure. This means it only gives itself one chance to carry out a robust, fair and impartial investigation.

“Complaint procedures should be flexible and open enough to consider all relevant information and revisit matters if needed. Otherwise it is unfair to the people who complain and deprives the council of the opportunity to learn and put things right without involving us.

“I hope the changes the council makes to its complaints processes will ensure it deals appropriately with any complaints it receives in future.”

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 woman and repay the £240.36 she has paid it. It should also pay her £500 for the distress caused and time and trouble she has been put to in bringing the complaint.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council should review its complaints procedure to ensure it carries out robust fair investigations.

The Ombudsman issues guidance to councils across a wide range of subjects and is today publishing a new guide on Effective Complaints Handling for local authority complaints handlers.

Article date: 08 October 2020

When:

 

11 October 2021 - 12 October 2021

Where:

 

Vienna, Austria

 

FRA

 

FRA event

The next Fundamental Rights Forum will take place in Vienna on 11 and 12 October 2021.

• PREVIOUS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS FORUM

It aims to get back to basics reasserting how human rights matter and rebuild trust to show that Europe cares for its people.

The Fundamental Rights Forum is the centre stage for human rights dialogue. It will build a vision of hope in a post-pandemic world, shaping and proposing ideas and solutions, in the face of pressing human rights challenges in the European Union and beyond.

It will bring together those who strive to foster strong, inclusive and cohesive democratic societies. This includes human rights institutions, defenders and practitioners, as well as a wide range of partners and social actors, with a particular focus on youth and young people.

Data: 

2020-10-08

Adam Bodnar, the outgoing Human Rights Commissioner was one of the guests of the Verfassungsblog -  a journalistic and academic forum of debate on topical events and developments in constitutional law and politics in Germany, the emerging common European constitutional space and beyond. He took part in a discussion about disciplinary proceedings for judges.

Disciplinary procedures can be misused by an authoritarian government as blunt yet efficient tool to force the independent judiciary into submission. Judge Igor Tuleya is facing removal from office and worse for having crossed the government once too often in his discharge of his judicial duties. And he is not the only one case in Poland.

Ważne linki:

• Podcast

Digitale Konferenz über die Zukunft der Europäischen Ombudsstelle und die Kooperation des Europäischen Verbindungsnetzes der Bürgerbeauftragten und Petitionsausschüsse

26. Oktober 2020

https://enonet.eu/survey/index.php/457224