28 noviembre 2023

El Defensor del Pueblo de Navarra-Nafarroako Arartekoa, Patxi Vera, ha participado junto con sus homólogos en las XXXVI Jornadas de Coordinación de Defensores del Pueblo organizadas por el Sindic de Greuges de Cataluña y celebradas los días 23 y 24 de noviembre en Barcelona. Vera ha acudido acompañado del secretario general, la jefa de gabinete y una asesora de su defensoría.

En dicho encuentro las defensorías han mostrado su intención de seguir trabajando en el desarrollo de un modelo de protección de la infancia y adolescencia más garantista. Una decisión que parte de las aportaciones y resultados del taller que un grupo de adolescentes provenientes de diversas defensorías realizaron del 26 al 28 de junio en Bilbao. Fruto de dicho colaboración se elaboró el ‘Informe Encuentro Nuestra Voz”.

 Las distintas defensorías han considerado el trabajo recogido en el documento “Las situaciones de riesgo de la infancia y adolescencia: análisis de instituciones garantistas desde un enfoque de Derechos del Niño”. que se puso en común en un taller ad hoc celebrado en Seviila. Todo este trabajo previo se completó, en  el marco de las XXXVI Jornadas de Coordinación de los Defensores del Pueblo, donde se han expuesto los principales problemas detectados y algunas de las buenas prácticas de los sistemas de protección de cada autonomía.

El resultado final fueron unas conclusiones que son fruto del trabajo realizado por las defensorías con los mejores a los que se escuchó y con los que se trabajó. También se incorporó la propia experiencia que dichas instituciones poseen en materia de atención y protección a la infancia y la adolescencia. Y, de la suma de ambas aportaciones, se generó un documento para trasladar a distintas administraciones públicas que atienden este tema para que lo tengan en cuenta y apliquen parte de las propuestas, conocimientos y experiencias a su quehacer diario.

Durante las XXXVI Jornadas de Coordinación de Defensores del Pueblo, Rafael Yanes, Diputado del Común-Defensoría del Pueblo de Canarias, ha presentado una “Declaración en relación con la situación de las niñas y niños extranjeros no acompañados en la Comunidad Autónoma de Canarias” donde hace unas recomendaciones para abordar la problemática de los menores no acompañados que llegan a las Islas Canarias y que han sido respaldadas de forma unánime por el resto de sus homólgos. 

El Procurador del Común participó, en calidad de moderador, en una mesa redonda celebrada en el Paraninfo de la Universidad de Salamanca con motivo del 45º aniversario de la Constitución Española y 40º del Estatuto de Autonomía de Castilla y León, sobre los Retos actuales de la Constitución.

Un ciudadano, en representación de la Asociación agraviados por Arcco, C.C., solicitó la intervención del Ararteko con motivo de su disconformidad con la falta de respuesta a las peticiones de acceso a expedientes municipales presentadas por la citada asociación y personas pertenecientes a la organización.

En la queja recibida, se consignaban las numerosas solicitudes de acceso a la información pública presentadas desde 2021 ante el ayuntamiento y la Sociedad de Fomento San Sebastián S.A. que no habían obtenido respuesta.

Ante la petición de colaboración formulada por el Ararteko, la entidad local explicó las dificultades de recabar la información solicitada, las reuniones de evaluación de la situación que se habían celebrado con representantes de la asociación y los compromisos de entrega de documentación adoptados con la asociación.

El Ararteko ha podido constatar la falta de respuesta formal y en plazo a las solicitudes presentadas por la asociación, por lo que ha considerado oportuno dirigir una recomendación al Ayuntamiento de Donostia/San Sebastián en la que recuerda a esa administración el deber de respetar los requisitos del procedimiento previstos en la normativa de transparencia.

Concretamente, recomienda al Ayuntamiento de Donostia/San Sebastián que tramite en plazo y forma las solicitudes de acceso a la información pública presentadas por la Asociación agraviados por Arcco, C.C.

RESOLUCIÓN

The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) in collaboration with the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) has organised an international event about the influence of artificial intelligence on human rights entitled “Co-Lab: AI - ENNHRI Capacity Building Event on Artificial Intelligence”, which will take place today, 30 November, and tomorrow, 1 December 2023, in Ljubljana. The event will be attended by numerous representatives of European national human rights institutions from more than 30 countries and other international experts. Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Minister of Digital Transformation, will also participate at the event, in the exchange of opinions on artificial intelligence.

In his introductory speech, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina highlighted that the most attention relating to artificial intelligence is focused on the potential to support economic growth, while much less is dedicated to the question of its influence on fundamental rights. The development of artificial intelligence and new technologies create great opportunities, yet simultaneously also risks concerning respect of human rights. “It is essential that the technological development of artificial intelligence is made in an appropriate legal-ethical framework that will strengthen the existing levels of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of every individual and reinforce legitimate democratic processes,” said the Ombudsman.

He added that the European Network of National Human Rights Institution (ENNHRI), of which the institution of the Ombudsman is also a member, has been preparing its own positions on the proposal of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence and positions on the draft of the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. ENNHRI stresses the need for national supervisory bodies which will monitor compliance with the mentioned convention and prohibit practices presenting an unacceptable risk from the perspective of respecting human rights and equality. “National human rights institutions working within ENNHRI call for strong and effective protective tools for equality and fundamental rights which would provide an appropriate balance between the development of and trust in artificial intelligence. We also call for the mentioned acts to define collaboration with us and other existing independent institutions. This includes our right to access the information about what algorithms are used by artificial intelligence and the data collected by it for the performance of its tasks. The development of technologies demands from all of us who strive for the protection of rights and freedoms sufficient and quality-based knowledge and clear rules, since this is the only way that violations of rights and dignity of individuals can be prevented,” emphasised Ombudsman Svetina.

The fact is that the field of artificial intelligence is developing rapidly and that its use in the next decade will be widened immensely, hence Ombudsman Svetina also warned about the responsibility of developed Western countries to help developing countries in the field of artificial intelligence, since there is a real risk that the legal and technological vacuum could be entered by countries and private companies who do not place respect of human rights in the development of artificial intelligence high on their priority list. Namely, the use of algorithms, automated decision-making, and other processes have already raised numerous concerns regarding access to personal information and the right to legal protection.

On Friday, the participants will visit the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) under the wing of UNESCO, which in Slovenia operates in the premises of the Jožef Stefan Institute, to exchange views and positions regarding the future development of artificial intelligence from the perspective of ethics.

Ombudsman Peter Svetina also met his Albanian colleague Erinda Ballanca at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the conference. They talked about the pressing issues they face in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. They also exchanged some good practices in the work of the institutions they lead.

The Casebook contains a selection of cases considered by us during 2022/23 and 2023/24 to date, which involved equality and human rights considerations.

Some of these complaints still related to events that unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the measures and restrictions introduced to protect public health.  Continuing the theme introduced in the previous years, the publication includes 2 cases related to the application of the ‘Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation’ (‘DNACPR’) procedure.

In addition, several further cases related to healthcare and housing highlight how failings of public service providers may have engaged human rights duties, or the FREDA principles of Fairness, Respect, Equality, Dignity and Autonomy – core values which underpin human rights.

The selection in the Casebook also includes some complaints related to equality duties – predominantly, the duty to offer reasonable adjustments to disabled people. However, there is also one example of a complaint concerning services for trans people.

Michelle Morris, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales said:

As I do every year, I must emphasise that it is not our role to conclude that someone’s human rights have been breached, or that they have been discriminated against. That is a matter for the Courts. However, we see in our casework every day that human rights and equality issues are often inseparable from people being treated unfairly and suffering injustice. Therefore, if we see that someone’s human rights or equality rights may have been engaged in the cases that we consider, we will state that clearly in our conclusions and make appropriate recommendations.

We publish this Casebook to raise awareness of how we approach human rights and equality issues in our casework, but also to promote improvement of public services. For this reason, we also include several complaints that we did not uphold. We believe that this is important to better explain our approach to such cases, as well as to highlight correct administrative practice by the bodies investigated.

We were glad to see our work to promote equality and human rights publicly acknowledged this year by the House of Commons and House of Lords Joint Committee on Human Rights, in the context of that Committee’s inquiry into the merits of establishing a Human Rights Ombudsperson. The inquiry concluded that, given the work currently undertaken by our office and our sister organisations, there would be no merit in establishing a separate scheme. We hope that the selection presented in this Casebook will help to continue to raise awareness of our efforts to promote and protect the human rights and equality rights of the people who use Welsh public services.

To read our Casebook, click here.