“The war in Ukraine has been devastating for children. Council of Europe member states should redouble their efforts to protect and support the children who are suffering as a result of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine”, said the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, ahead of World Children’s Day 2022.

“Since 24 February,  we have received relentless reports in Europe of children being killed, injured, orphaned, and traumatised by indiscriminate or targeted attacks on civilians in Ukraine. Shelling by Russia continues to force children and their families to seek shelter in cold basements, leaving many of them without access to their most basic needs, including food, water, electricity, healthcare, and education. Millions of children have been displaced, and many have been separated from their loved ones. I call on all Council of Europe member states to make addressing the plight of all children victims of this war their top priority. This includes increased humanitarian assistance for the Ukrainian population ahead of and throughout this winter. It also means sustained, longer-term provision of dignified housing, healthcare, education and other basic needs of the children and their families for whom it may be too early yet to return home safely. Children fleeing the war should also be protected from human trafficking, exploitation, and sexual violence wherever they are.

This year we are also witnessing a new and particularly appalling effect of war on children in Europe: forcible transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia, away from their families and caregivers, as reported and documented by multiple sources. Following a legislative change to facilitate the granting of Russian citizenship to Ukrainian children, some of them have been adopted in Russia in what appears as a deliberate exploitation of these children’s vulnerability. I recall UNICEF’s guidance that children separated from their parents during a humanitarian emergency cannot be presumed orphans and are not available for adoption. For this reason, adoption should not occur during or immediately after emergencies.

The forcible transfer of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power is prohibited under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. I have stressed before that Article 50 of that same Convention also prohibits the changing of children’s personal status, including nationality, by an occupying force.

The widespread and systematic violations of the human rights of children in the context of the war in Ukraine, including through deliberate actions that may qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity, must be stopped and those responsible must be held fully accountable. Council of Europe member states should support every effort directed at locating and reunifying all Ukrainian children who have been separated from their families or established caregivers, in full consideration of the child’s best interests.”

Un ciudadano planteó al Ararteko su desacuerdo con la suspensión de una subvención que venía percibiendo hasta abril de 2022, porque la Administración consideró que no cumplía los requisitos para mantener la condición de beneficiario. 

La sociedad pública Interbiak, encargada de la gestión de las subvenciones, requirió al ciudadano, a través del sistema electrónico de gestión de subvenciones Bidesaria y por correo electrónico, que presentara el carné de conducir, ante la posibilidad de que perdiese su vigencia. La subvención previamente otorgada en enero de 2022 fue suspendida durante varios meses, hasta que el ciudadano finalmente incluyó en Bidesaria el documento solicitado.

Tras analizar la reclamación, el Ararteko ha recomendado al Departamento de Infraestructuras y Desarrollo Territorial de la Diputación Foral de Bizkaia que tramite el procedimiento administrativo de concesión de subvenciones a través de la sede electrónica del ente foral, con el fin de efectuar notificaciones de subsanación de requisitos adecuadamente, permitiendo al interesado comparecer en sede electrónica, conocer el acto dictado por la Administración y defender, así, sus derechos e intereses legítimos en plazo y forma. 

Además, el Ararteko recomienda a la Administración que habilite formularios de recogida de datos sencillos y comprensibles para la ciudadanía, optando por solicitar datos y documentación al inicio del procedimiento mediante una solicitud específica o diferir a un control posterior el cumplimiento de los requisitos, mediante una presentación de declaración responsable, con el fin de agilizar y simplificar la tramitación administrativa. 

Asimismo, se sugiere utilizar las plataformas de intermediación de datos (principio de interoperabilidad) para verificar la veracidad de la información presentada por las personas solicitantes de subvenciones y no tener que presentar datos que obran en poder de la Administración.

Amendments to the Education Law Are Not Adopted

The Parliamentary (Saeima) Education, Culture and Science Committee did not support amendments to the Education Law, which would allow heads of schools to prevent emotionally or physically violent students from undergoing education at the school. The Ombudsman has been actively campaigning against this idea since the beginning of summer, drawing attention to the negative consequences of such amendments. The Ombudsman has stressed that there is no doubt that any form of violence should be condemned, however, in his opinion, these children must be given all the assistance they need to be successfully included in society.

Information Campaign on Mobbing and Bossing

In October, the Ombudsman published a social media campaign “Mobbing and bossing has NO place at work! Don’t let it hide in the shadows, illuminate it, defend yourself!”. The campaign explained the causes and consequences of mobbing and bossing, the ways one can prove they are a victim of mobbing/bossing, and explored the laws that protect people and the best ways to deal with such conflict situations. In order to portray the way this theory can be seen in practice, each section was explained through a fictional story, where a person – procurement specialist Elza – faced mobbing at her workplace in a public institution.

The Ombudsman’s Office Observes the Parliamentary Election

On 1 October, representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office participated in the monitoring of the 14^th Parliamentary (Saeima) Election, carrying out in-person monitoring visits to psychoneurological hospitals and prisons. The duty of election observers was to make sure that the voting procedure and the conduct of the polling commission complied with the Saeima Election Law and the instructions of the Central Election Commission, as well as to report on any violations detected and to request that they be prevented. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office have participated as observers in several elections in the past, providing their conclusions and recommendations.

Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office Continue to Read “Ready for Life” Lectures

Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office continue to participate in the programme “Ready for Life” and offer students in-person and online guest lectures on topical issues. More than 30 lectures have been delivered this autumn, with more than 700 students reached! Currently, representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office offer lectures on freedom of expression and hate speech, prevention of trafficking in human beings and data protection.

Vom 15. bis 16. November fand das zweite diesjährige Treffen des südosteuropäischen Netzwerkes für NPMs (Nationale Präventionsmechanismen) unter dem Vorsitz der Österreichischen Volksanwaltschaft statt.

Im Rahmen dieses Netzwerkes treffen sich die 13 NPMs (Albanien, Österreich, Bulgarien, Kroatien, Griechenland, Ungarn, Montenegro, Nordmazedonien, Rumänien, Serbien, Slowenien sowie Bosnien-Herzegowina und Kosovo) regelmäßig zu einem Erfahrungsaustausch. Ebenfalls teilgenommen haben eine Vertreterin des Europarates, der das Netzwerk im Rahmen des „European NPM Forum“ unterstützt, und ein Vertreter des NPM aus Georgien.

Thema des Treffens waren „Zwangsmaßnahmen bei Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen mit psychischen Erkrankungen“ und „Kinder und Jugendliche mit psychischen und physischen Behinderungen“. Die NPMs stellten die Situationen in den jeweiligen Ländern vor und gingen dabei auf die rechtlichen Grundlagen für Unterbringung und die Anwendung von Zwangsmaßnahmen sowie die aktuell größten Herausforderungen ein. Personalmangel im Allgemeinen und der Mangel an gut ausgebildetem Personal im Besonderen sowie fehlende Infrastrukturen stellen dabei das größte Problem dar.

Im Verlauf des Austauschs wurden gemeinsame Empfehlungen erarbeitet, die auf der Website des SEE NPM Netzwerkes veröffentlicht werden.