Cambridgeshire County Council has refused to apologise to a family after it left their clinically vulnerable son without any education or support during the COVID-19 crisis.

The nine-year-old, who has complex Special Educational Needs including severe neuro-disabilities and speech and language delay, could not attend his school throughout the pandemic on the advice of his GP. He has had no formal schooling since September 2020 and has only in the last month been provided with some education at home.

The council issued the boy’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in 2016, and last amended it in 2018. It should have reviewed this annually but has failed to do so.  This means the boy’s plan does not reflect his current needs and the support he requires to meet them.

Despite the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigating the complaint and finding the council at fault, Cambridgeshire has so far refused to agree to any of the Ombudsman’s recommendations to put things right for the family.

Councillors are now obliged to review the investigation report at a top-level decision-making meeting and share their formal response with the Ombudsman.

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

“The family tell me they have been ignored and misled by the council. Nobody from the council has checked on their son’s wellbeing, or their own, and its poor handling of their case continues to cause them significant distress.

“I am concerned that throughout my investigation the council has demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of its role in the SEND process and of its legal obligations and duties towards children in the county.

“Additionally, the council’s poor response to my investigation is also a major concern. It is an issue highlighted in my recent report about complaints handling during the pandemic, where we saw some councils abandoning high-quality complaint handling.

“I now call upon Cambridgeshire County Council – and the councillors who scrutinise its actions – to reflect upon my report and consider whether this is the way they want services for their most vulnerable residents run in future.”

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Slovenian Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina attended a two-day conference of the European Network of Ombudsmen (ENO) in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Hosted by the offices of the European and French human rights ombudsman's offices, representatives of European national and regional ombudsman institutions and other participants active in this field discussed the role of ombudsmen in times of crises. At the forefront of the talks was action during the coronavirus pandemic, which has further accelerated the digitalisation of many aspects of people's lives, and tackling the consequences of the war in Ukraine, from where more than five million people have fled throughout Europe in recent months. To this end, the EU has activated the Temporary Protection Directive, which provides these Ukrainian refugees access to housing, employment, healthcare and education in the EU Member States. The conference was opened by European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.

The participants of the conference agreed that digitalisation has gained further momentum due to the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and the world. It has had a significant effect on society and the economy, and its expansion will strengthen not only the positive, but also its negative effects on areas with weaker economies, poorer and less educated or uneducated populations without the opportunity to access the Internet and digital skills, and areas with a high unemployment rate. With the Digital Compass, the European Commission has set the increase in the number of adults with at least basic digital skills to 80% by 2030 as one of its key goals. Ombudsman Peter Svetina welcomed the fact that this goal is also pursued by the vision of Digital Slovenia 2030, which intends to improve the quality of life of the population of Slovenia in a sustainable, green and trustworthy way by means of the digital transformation of all segments of society. According to the Ombudsman, the gold standard for countries and governments in this field should be to maintain contact with people, which is certainly one of the major pitfalls of digitalisation. "Special attention must be paid to vulnerable groups of people who are facing health or other limitations. In the field of digitalisation of public administration matters, the availability of information and services is all the more important. It is necessary to have individual users and their limitations in mind and to offer them friendly, advanced and safe services that they will be able to use, regardless of age or psychophysical abilities," Ombudsman Svetina noted in the European Parliament.

The human rights ombudsmen agreed that the institutions they lead are of paramount importance in supervising the functioning of national, regional and local authorities. At the moment, one of the most important areas is certainly the so-called refugee issues. In talks on the fringes of the conference with counterparts from Brussels, Catalonia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland, Ombudsman Svetina again called for a single mechanism for monitoring refugees to be established in the EU Member States and for non-discriminatory treatment and proper registration of refugees in order to protect them against possible abuse. He said that, to this end, countries should include structures for fighting trafficking in human beings, as should the police, in their refugee-related activities, as well as strengthen cooperation with relevant non-governmental organisations. According to Svetina, enhanced cross-border cooperation and the flow of information, including through Europol, are also needed to prevent abuse. As he noted, it should be borne in mind that refugees who are coming from Ukraine are mostly women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly, i.e. groups of people who are vulnerable by default, which is why protection of refugees must be strengthened in all receiving countries. He also discussed this in a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova.

On the fringes of the conference, Ombudsman Svetina also met Andrej Slapničar, the head of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the Council of Europe. At the initiative of the Slovenian Ombudsman, the Greek Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis and the Dutch Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphe, they also met with the European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly. They discussed the work and role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in the field of protection of fundamental human rights at the external borders of the EU and noted the expectation that the mandates of ombudsman institutions to carry out border monitoring would be strengthened. The interlocutors also touched on the possibility of active cooperation with the institution of the European Ombudsman in the field of training and education.

The European Network of Ombudsmen (ENO) was established in 1996 to connect the European Ombudsman, national and regional human rights ombudsmen and the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament. The network is coordinated by the European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly.
 

On 2 May 2022, we published our 2021 Annual report and presented it to the Chamber of Representatives. We opened 8,202 files in 2021, which is a 20 % increase compared to 2019. In 2021, 1 complaint in 5 was still coronavirus related. Complaints about unemployment benefits continued to be rife.

The number of files keeps rising

The Federal Ombudsman was established on 3 January 1997. 25 years on, more and more people are calling on us for help. In 2021, we opened 8,202 new files. That is a 9 % increase compared to 2020 and a 20 % increase compared to 2019. That rise was due to the corona crisis which continues to take its toll on the relationship between citizens and the public administrations.

We continue to receive hundreds of complaints about the Hulpkas voor Werkloosheidsuitkeringen (HvW) [Auxiliary Unemployment Benefits Fund] and the unions. It remains difficult to contact the HvW and the unions and people still experience excessive delays in the payment of their unemployment benefits. We also found that the corona crisis added to the complexity of the files.

Aside from issues associated with unemployment benefits, we received no end of complaints about the reimbursement of PCR tests, traffic fines, fines associated with cause-list duties and restrictions on the right to travel to visit a relative. On the whole, citizens most often contacted us in 2021 about the manner in which public authorities implemented the legislation and about the fact that they had to wait far too long for a reply to or a decision on their query. In more than 85 % of the justified complaints we were able to find a solution.

Need for empathy

On the one hand, the pandemic presented the public administrations with major challenges. As they have to respect citizens’ rights, they must carry out their duties properly, even in the context of an unprecedented crisis. On the other hand, citizens are craving certainty like never before. They expect the authorities to take account of their situation and to empathise with them. The pandemic confirmed that empathy is key to a humane and qualitative service.

David Baele, Federal Ombudsman: “Since the early days in 1997 we have noted that what the people who contact us need is empathy. A listening ear and showing insight into their situation and needs is essential, especially in a crisis context. Empathy helps to bring about dialogue, to reconcile points of view and to restore the confidence that can be in short supply between citizens and the public administrations at times.”

La Défenseure des droits, Claire Hédon, chargée en particulier de défendre les droits des enfants, demande à nouveau expressément au gouvernement d’honorer ses engagements internationaux vis-à-vis de tous les enfants français retenus actuellement dans plusieurs camps dans le nord-est syrien.

Saisie depuis 2017 de réclamations par leurs familles, la Défenseure des droits rappelle que chaque jour passé dans ces camps met en danger la vie de ces enfants exposés à des traitements inhumains et dégradants qui engagent la responsabilité de l’Etat français.

Responsable de la défense des droits des enfants et garant du respect de la Convention internationale relative aux droits de l’enfant (CIDE) par la France, le Défenseur des droits  a depuis 2019 formulé de nombreuses recommandations, contenues notamment dans les décisions 2021-201[1] et 2019-129, pour que soit mis un terme à cette situation d’autant plus grave et préoccupante qu’elle porte atteinte aux droits les plus élémentaires d’enfants particulièrement vulnérables.

Dans une décision du 23 février dernier, le Comité des droits de l’enfant de l’ONU a constaté la violation par la France du droit à la vie des enfants français retenus dans ces camps, de leur droit à ne pas subir de traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, et de leur intérêt supérieur. En conséquence, le Comité considère que la France est tenue de prendre des mesures pour réparer les violations subies par ces enfants et prévenir toute nouvelle atteinte à leurs droits. Il recommande de donner, de manière urgente, une réponse officielle à chaque demande de rapatriement des enfants victimes et de prendre des mesures positives pour effectuer ce rapatriement.

La Défenseure des droits rappelle que la France est tenue de respecter ses engagements conventionnels, notamment ses engagements au titre de la Convention relative aux droits de l’enfant (CIDE) qu’elle a ratifiée. Elle souligne par ailleurs que la France est tenue de fournir au Comité, dans un délai de 180 jours, des renseignements sur les mesures adoptées pour donner effet à sa décision du 23 février 2022[2]. La Défenseure des droits a interrogé à ce titre le président de la République.

Elle constate en outre la position isolée de la France sur cette question alors que la Belgique, la Finlande, le Danemark, les Pays-Bas, l’Allemagne et la Suède ont procédé au rapatriement de la plupart de leurs ressortissants mineurs et, lorsqu’ils n’étaient pas isolés ou orphelins, de leur mère.

La Défenseure des droits considère que, dans l’intérêt supérieur des enfants, seule l’organisation du retour de l’ensemble des enfants avec leurs mères sur le sol français et leur prise en charge par les services compétents, est à même d’assurer leur protection et de mettre un terme à la violation actuelle de leurs droits fondamentaux.

Des rapatriements d’enfants ont précédemment été opérés par la France, démontrant que ces mesures sont réalisables. La Défenseure des droits appelle instamment à cesser l’examen au compte-goutte des situations et insiste sur l’impératif qui s’attache à la pleine effectivité des droits de ces enfants. Il n’est pas d’enfant dont il serait admissible que la protection ne soit que relative ou dégradée face à un risque pour leur vie, où qu’ils se trouvent, « qu’ils fussent à l’autre bout de la planète » comme l’a rappelé le président Emmanuel Macron le 14 mai 2019.

[1] Tierce intervention du Défenseur des droits devant le Comité des droits de l’enfant

[2] Conformément à l’article 11 du protocole facultatif ratifié par la France