The Seimas Ombudsperson Erika Leonaitė has investigated an applicants’ complaint regarding the actions (inaction) of the officials of the State Border Guard Service under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (further on – SBGS) who failed to provide a response to his request regarding cancelation of the restriction on freedom of movement.

Having considered the circumstances indicated in the complaint and the competence of the SBGS established by legal acts, the Seimas Ombudsperson decided that it would be much more appropriate that first of all the Head of SBGS examined the complaint and submitted a reasoned answer to it.

By the decision of the Seimas Ombudsperson, during the mediation procedure, the Head of the SBGS was requested, among other things, to carefully examine the circumstances stated in the complaint, and to find out whether the applicant was given an answer to his request for the cancellation of the restriction on freedom of movement, as determined by the Rules for the Examination of Applications and Complaints and Service Provided to Individuals at Public Administration Entities (the institution responds in writing to a written request, taking into account its content).

The Head of the SBGS, responding to the appeal of the Seimas Ombudsperson Erika Leonaitė, informed, among other things, that the applicant’s request for his accommodation with the right to move freely in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania was resolved and he was informed of the decision made against him; however, the applicant was not given a written answer to his appeal.

Taking into account the above circumstances and aiming not to violate the rights of foreigners housed in the structural units of SBGS in the future, the Head of SBGS repeatedly drew the attention of the heads of foreigners’ registration centres of SBGS to the fact that complaints, requests and other appeals should be processed in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Administration and the resolution of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania “On the approval of the rules of procedure for handling requests and complaints of individuals in public administration entities”.

L’AOMF a le plaisir de convier ses membres au Programme de formation AOM – AOMF, qui se tiendra les mardi 22 et mercredi 23 novembre 2022 à Rabat, Maroc.

Cet événement portera sur le thème suivant : « Institution de médiation : Processus et moyens d’intervention ».

Cette formation organisée avec la collaboration avec l’AOM (Association des Ombudsmans de la Méditerranée) abordera, lors de ses différents modules, les sujets suivants :

• Saisine, auto saisine et processus de traitement des plaintes
• Les moyens de communication des Médiateurs et Ombudsmans 
• Les moyens d’intervention des Médiateurs et Ombudsmans 
• Rapports des Médiateurs et Ombudsmans 
• Traitement des plaintes des personnes vulnérables 
• Institution de médiation et ses différentes relations

Le programme et les informations pratiques vous seront envoyés très prochainement.

Afin d’accroître son accessibilité, cette formation sera délivré en français, anglais et arabe.

The following vacancy notices are currently open:

Inquiries Officer in the Office of the European Ombudsman OMB/6/2022 - Temporary agent - AD5 Call for expression of interest  for immediate recruitment & drawing-up a reserve list

The inquiries officer in the Ombudsman's Office must necessarily have a very good command of English. The documents concerning the call for expression of interest are therefore only available in English.

Candidates are informed that they are not allowed to contact personally members of the Selection Committee and that doing so constitutes grounds for disqualification from the procedure.

• Call for expression of interest OMB/6/2022 - Inquiries Officers AD5 in the Office of the European Ombudsman - Temporary agent

The data shows that over 15,000 complaints were received by Welsh Local Authorities in 21/22; this is the equivalent of 4.9 complaints for every 1,000 residents of Wales. We use this type of representation to better compare public services in Local Authorities which vary greatly in size. Complaint volumes dipped in the second half of the year, but the overall figure shows that residents are making complaints at levels seen before the pandemic.

The data shows that about 76% of complaints were closed within the target of 20 working days. Performance for the final quarter of the year showed an improvement, getting back towards levels seen at the start of the year. Lower performance in the  middle of the year probably represents the difficulties experienced by all public bodies over the winter period.

Local Authorities in Wales upheld about 45% of the complaints they closed in 21/22. This figure has remained consistently high throughout the year – with complaints about waste and refuse, which make up about a third of all complaints,  attracting an uphold rate of 70%.

Over 1,100 complaints relating to Local Authorities were referred to us in the year, which represents about 8% of all complaints closed in the same period.

The numbers of complaints referred gives context to both Local Authority complaints data and cases about Local Authorities handled by us.

We closed 1,092 complaints about Local Authorities in 21/22. Some of those complaints would have been referred to the office during the quarter; others would have been received before that period.

We intervened in 15% of those cases, by recommending Early Resolution* or upholding a complaint after an investigation.  Since the vast majority of remaining cases were out of jurisdiction, the actual intervention rate in cases that we could consider was 99%. This is consistent with the previous quarters of the year and suggests that there are further improvement required in public service delivery.

Michelle Morris, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales said,

“We’re proud to be able to show data for the full financial year – and for the first time we’re able to see more of the complaints landscape. This information allows us to look beyond the headline and consider what this performance means, both for the general public and how they experience local services, and allows us to track how those services can improve. “

Matthew Harris, PSOW’s Head of Complaints Standards, said,

“I think having this information in one place drives transparency and consistency – but more than that, it allows real scrutiny of what numbers like these actually mean. This data allows us to do more than simply consider volumes, and start using information to drive improvement in public service delivery.”

Notes

The Complaints Standards Authority (CSA) was created by the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) 2019 Act. The CSA works to support effective complaint handling  by Public Bodies within our jurisdiction. The CSA achieves this by:

• setting model complaints policies and guidelines
• offering advice and delivering bespoke training packages
• collecting and publishing data on complaints handled by Public Bodies.

After every quarter of the year, the CSA requests complaint handling statistics from Welsh Local Authorities.

*In some cases, we may take the view that there is action that the organisation being complained about could take quickly to resolve a complaint. In these cases, we will contact the organisation involved to explain what we think might be done and seek its agreement to take that forward.

Click here to find the full published statistics and a briefing about this publication.

Milagros Fuentes se reunió con representantes de este Colectivo, quienes trasladaron la situación a la que se exponen las personas migrantes en el Archipiélago en la mediación de casos de separación familiar

Ca-minando Fronteras aseguró que la Administración tarda más de 4 meses en responder a los escritos que presentan sobre este tipo de casos

La adjunta segunda de la Diputación del Común, Milagros Fuentes, se reunió con el responsable del programa de búsqueda de personas desaparecidas y con la representante del equipo legal del Colectivo Ca-minando Fronteras, Lucas Vaquero y María Vieira, respectivamente, quienes expusieron las dificultades que deben afrontar los menores migrantes en Canarias en la mediación de casos de reagrupación familiar.

El Colectivo aseguró haberse desplazado a territorio canario para mediar con la Administración Pública y con las autoridades, con el objetivo de resolver distintos casos de separación familiar de madres y menores subsaharianos que se vienen produciendo en las islas desde hace varios meses. “Hasta el momento no hemos podido obtener una resolución satisfactoria de estos casos. Cada problemática es distinta, pero, en esencia, todas comparten que se trata de menores de 12 años migrantes que han llegado a las islas acompañados por otros miembros de la unidad familiar que no son sus progenitores directos”, aseguró Vaquero.

Informaron que, generalmente, existe un progenitor directo que se encuentra en otro territorio, “normalmente en otro país europeo”, y que manifiesta la voluntad de hacerse cargo del menor, acogerlo y obtener su tutela. “En estos procedimientos, el papel de la Administración es fundamental, porque los menores que llegan sin sus progenitores directos quedan a su cargo. La problemática que estamos encontrando es la demora de una respuesta directa por parte de la Administración a las peticiones que les enviamos sobre estas reagrupaciones. Hablamos de periodos de espera de más de 4 meses sin obtener respuesta oficial”.

Ca-minando Fronteras ve excesivo este periodo de tiempo teniendo en cuenta la especial vulnerabilidad de estos menores. Asimismo, trasladaron la existencia de unos protocolos específicos para atender este tipo de casos, y aseguraron haber solicitado a la Dirección General de Protección a la Infancia información al respecto con el fin de colaborar en las labores de mediación con las familias. Sin embargo, puntualizaron haber obtenido una información ambigua y confusa que no ha permitido a las familias iniciar los procedimientos necesarios para las reagrupaciones.“Actualmente, en Canarias, de los 10 casos que trabajamos aún 5 de ellos siguen en activo. Necesitamos conocer en mayor profundidad los protocolos y que se apliquen de manera estandarizada y respetando las particularidades de cada familia”, aseguró el responsable del programa de búsqueda de personas desaparecidas del Colectivo.

Por su parte, Milagros Fuentes aseveró que, “desde el inicio de todas las operaciones en las llegadas de personas migrantes a las islas, existen protocolos para detectar, sobre todo, situaciones que puedan ser de trata o de explotación de menores. Es por ello por lo que debemos ser cautelosos desde todas las instituciones”.

La adjunta segunda de la Diputación del Común afirmó que la Institución está siempre en contacto con la Dirección General de la Infancia, “y tratamos de ayudar para solucionar la gran crisis migratoria que hemos tenido, pero debemos trabajar unidos en un punto en común como es el derecho del menor”.