Según palabras de la comisaria Djuna Mijatovic, "cuando hablamos de derechos humanos hablamos en la misma lengua"
 

La síndica de greuges de Cataluña, Esther Giménez-Salinas, se ha desplazado a Bruselas y Estrasburgo para reunirse con diferentes autoridades europeas que trabajan en la protección de los derechos y las garantías de la ciudadanía.                        

Hoy se ha reunido en Estrasburgo con Dunja Mijatovic, comisaria europea de Derechos Humanos, para abordar el papel de los ombudsman europeos en momentos difíciles como los actuales, en un contexto de crisis social, energética y económica.

En febrero de 2022, la comisaria solicitó la reforma de la Ley de seguridad ciudadana para adecuarla a las normas europeas e internacionales de derechos humanos. En relación con el caso Pegasus, pidió a los estados miembros del Consejo de Europa que impusieran una moratoria estricta sobre la exportación, la venta, la transferencia y el uso de softwares espía, y que establecieran un marco legislativo preciso y compatible con los derechos humanos para el empleo de la tecnología de vigilancia moderna.

También ha mostrado en varias ocasiones su preocupación por las graves violaciones de los derechos humanos contra los refugiados, los solicitantes de asilo y los migrantes, que según ella se han convertido en una característica permanente de las prácticas de control de la migración en muchas de las fronteras de Europa.

Paralelamente, la síndica de greuges también ha mantenido un encuentro con la secretaria general de la Asamblea Parlamentaria del Consejo de Europa, Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, que ha sido la primera mujer en ocupar el cargo en los 73 años de la historia de la institución. 

En Estrasburgo, Giménez-Salinas también se ha reunido con el embajador permanente de España en el Consejo de Europa, Manuel Montobbio, para hablar del planteamiento de la Comisión de Venecia ante los retos de los estados de derecho, la democracia y la globalización.

En su estancia en Bruselas, el 15 de febrero, la síndica de greuges se reunió con Marc Bertrand, defensor de Valonia y vicepresidente de la Asociación de Ombudsman y Mediadores de la Francofonía (AOMF), con el objetivo de trazar estrategias de colaboración entre ambas instituciones en la garantía de los derechos básicos de la ciudadanía.

La AOMF tiene como misión principal promover el papel de los ombudsman en los países de habla francesa y fomentar el desarrollo y la consolidación de instituciones de mediación independientes. Durante la reunión se acordó seguir colaborando en el intercambio de experiencias para mejorar la garantía de los derechos de las personas.

Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-02/cp230028en.pdf 

Language: bg es de en fr hr it pl pt

PRESS RELEASE No 28/23

The Court of Justice confirms the unlawfulness of two EPSO notices of competition restricting the choice of the second language to English, French or German It was not demonstrated that that restriction was justified by the interests of the service in recruiting staff who are immediately operational The Commission brought two appeals before the Court of Justice seeking that it set aside the judgments delivered by the General Court on 9 September 2020 . 1 By those judgments the General Court annulled two EPSO notices of open competition for: 1. the constitution of reserve lists of administrators in the field of audit 2. the constitution of reserve lists of administrators entrusted with the duties of investigators and team leaders in the fields of EU expenditure, anti-corruption, customs and trade, tobacco and counterfeit goods The EPSO notices specified that candidates must satisfy specific language conditions: a minimum level of C1 in one of the 24 official EU languages (language 1), and a minimum level of B2 in English, French or German (language 2), described as being the main working languages of the EU institutions. In their actions, Italy and Spain challenged the legality of two aspects of the language regime established by the notices of competition limiting to English, French and German the choice, first, of the second language of the competition and second, of the language of communication between candidates and EPSO . 2 In upholding the complaints of Italy and Spain, the General Court noted that the restriction of the choice of second language to English, French and German constitutes, in essence, a difference in treatment based on language. It also held that that difference in treatment was not objectively justified by the main ground put forward in the notices of competition, 3 namely the need for administrators recruited to be immediately operational.

(...)

Surrey County Council has agreed to review how it arranges and monitors special educational needs support for children and young people in the county following a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation.

The Ombudsman was asked to investigate for the second time by the family of a young boy with Special Educational Needs after the council failed to provide him with his full entitlement of education and therapy for 18 months.

The investigation also criticised the way the council handled the family’s complaint.

As part of his Education, Health and Care plan the boy should have received 15 hours tutoring a week, along with speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. However between September 2020 and January 2021, he received just four hours a week. This rose to six hours a week in February 2021.

A Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal in April 2021 ordered the council to increase tutoring to 25 hours a week. The Tribunal also ordered the plan to include weekly therapeutic provision, which could include animal therapy.

The boy’s mother complained to the council in June 2021 that her son had not received his full entitlement of education and therapy since September 2020 and that it had still not put in place all the provision ordered by the Tribunal.

It took until the end of September 2021 for the full speech and language therapy provision to be put in place and March 2022 before the animal therapy started. The mother had made the council aware the animal therapy had not started from May 2021, but the council did not follow this up.

The boy’s relationship with the arranged occupational therapist broke down in December 2021, and the council did not put in place an alternative until March 2022.

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

“Councils cannot delegate their duties to ensure provision laid out in young people’s EHC Plans are delivered. After councils issue these plans we expect them to ensure all the provision included is in place – and if it is not, it should act to secure it without delay.

“In this case the boy missed out on a significant amount of tuition and therapies for a prolonged period, despite a previous investigation by us which found the son did not get education between 2018 and 2020. It is disappointing that the council did not learn from the issues raised in my first investigation.

“I am also concerned with the confusing way the council handled the mother’s complaints, at one stage taking 11 months to handle a complaint that should – according to its own policy – have taken a maximum of 30 days.

“The council has accepted my recommendations to improve its processes and I hope the better oversight this will bring will ensure other children and young people in Surrey do not miss out on the education and therapy they are entitled to in the same way.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council has agreed to pay the family a combined £7,400 for the lost education and provision, and for the frustration and distress they felt between March 2020 and May 2022.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council will review its procedures for how it arranges and monitors delivery of provisions in the EHC Plans of its young people that is under a duty to provide.

It will also review its children and education services complaints processes to ensure complaints are investigated in line with its policy.

Ce mardi 14 février 2023, dans le cadre des relations bilatérales et de la Vice-Présidence de l'Association des Médiateurs et Ombudsmans de la Francophonie (AOMF), le Médiateur wallon, Marc BERTRAND, a reçu la Síndica de Greuges de Catalunya, la Sra. Esther Giménez-Salinas i Colomer et son Directeur de cabinet, Sr. Andreu SAGARRA FIGUERES dans les salons de la Présidence du Parlement de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

La Sindica de Greuges a été nommée le 15 juillet 2022 pour succéder à Rafael RIBO. Elle possède une longue expérience universitaire, a été Rectrice et est titulaire de plusieurs chaires de Droit pénal et criminologie ou de Justice sociale et restaurative.
Madame Giménez-Salinas i Colomer a également vécu une expérience de terrain au Mexique et au Guatemala, notamment dans les lieux de privation de liberté.
Elle a à son actif de nombreuses publications scientifiques dans son domaine de spécialisation : droit pénal, justice des enfants mineurs, systèmes pénitentiaires, criminologie, justice restaurative, victimologie, enseignement supérieur et études sur le genre.

Cette rencontre fut l'occasion d'évoquer les nombreux dossiers traités par les deux institutions et principalement dans les matières de la santé, de l'enseignement ou de la fiscalité mais aussi des problématiques qui touchent à la pauvreté ou à l'immigration.
La question de la santé mentale et la problématique de la situation des personnes âgées placées en maison de repos durant la pandémie de la Covid, tant en Wallonie qu'en Catalogne, a également suscité l'intérêt des participants.

Le sujet de l'auto-saisine du Médiateur face à une problématique connue (pouvoir dont dispose la Catalogne mais pas la Wallonie), la question d'être au plus proche des citoyens et plus particulièrement des groupes vulnérables (personnes âgées, jeunes, personnes en situation de handicap ou immigrés) ou encore la protection des lanceurs d'alerte et le mécanisme de prévention contre la torture (OPCAT) ont par ailleurs été abordés.

Enfin, cette rencontre a permis au Médiateur wallon, Premier Vice-Président de l'AOMF, de présenter l'association à la Sindica de Greuges.
La Catalogne fait en effet partie de la Francophonie et l'institution catalane est membre du réseau.

Sur le plan international, Esther GIMÉNEZ-SALINAS i COLOMER apportera sa contribution dans les travaux de l'AOMF et contribuera au rapprochement de l'AOMF avec la Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman (FIO) qui réunit plus de 75 institutions de médiateurs des pays Ibéroaméricains.

Une première rencontre fructueuse qui augure d'une belle collaboration entre les médiateurs et leurs collaborateurs.