El Defensor del Pueblo, Ángel Gabilondo, ha abierto una actuación de oficio ante la Comisión Estatal contra la Violencia, el Racismo, la Xenofobia y la Intolerancia en el Deporte (Consejo Superior de Deportes) solicitando información sobre las actuaciones iniciadas tras los insultos racistas proferidos contra los jugadores Lamine Yamal, Ansu Fati y Raphinha, en el partido de fútbol que disputaron Real Madrid y el Barcelona el pasado sábado, 26 de octubre, en el Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Con esta actuación, la institución Defensor del Pueblo quiere conocer la valoración de esa Comisión respecto al cumplimiento y posible adopción de medidas adicionales a las previstas en la Ley 19/2007, de 11 de julio, contra la violencia, el racismo, la xenofobia y la intolerancia en el deporte, incluyendo las posibles propuestas de instrucción de expedientes sancionadores.

Esta investigación se une a otra actuación abierta por el Defensor del Pueblo que, en mayo de 2023 tras recibir varias quejas, inició actuaciones ante el Consejo Superior de Deportes por los insultos racistas recibidos por el jugador del Real Madrid, Vinicius José Paixao de Olivera (Vinicius Junior), en el partido entre el Valencia y Real Madrid, jugado en el Estadio de Mestalla.

On the occasion of the Constitution Day of the Republic of Lithuania, for the first time in the history of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office, a delegation from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) visited Lithuania: the Vice-President of the ECtHR Arnfinn Bårdsen, ECtHR Judges Mykola Gnatovskyy, Artūrs Kučs, Gediminas Sagatys, and the Chancellor of the Court’s Section II Hasan Bakırcı. The guests met with the head of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office, Erika Leonaitė, Seimas Ombudsperson, Jolita Miliuvienė, Seimas Ombudsperson, and Fausta Viktorija Osičnaitė, Senior Advisor of the Human Rights Division.

“We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to host you at our institution. This is a historic moment from the very beginning of the institution’s establishment, when a delegation from the European Court of Human Rights came to visit us. Your visit is not only an honour for our institution, but also a proof that our work in the field of human rights is important and necessary both nationally and internationally. We welcome the opportunity to share our mutual experience in pursuit of our common goal of strengthening human rights,” said Erika Leonaitė, Head of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office, as she welcomed the guests.

During the meeting, the guests were introduced to the competence of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office, discussed the role of national human rights institutions in protecting human rights and ensuring the protection of the values enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the role of these institutions in the work of the Court.

The delegation of the ECtHR stressed that the activities and decisions of the Ombudspersons’ institutions, close cooperation with the state and municipal authorities to which the recommendations of the Ombudspersons’ are addressed, and the implementation of these recommendations could help to avoid cases before the ECtHR, thus ensuring adequate protection of human rights and freedoms in our country.

During the meeting, the latest jurisprudence of the ECtHR was discussed in areas directly related to the activities of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office as a National Human Rights Institution, and the binding nature of ECtHR judgments was discussed. During the meeting, the judges noted that, although the operative part of the ECtHR judgments is linked only to the party (e.g. a state) involved in the case, the interpretation of the Convention and, in particular, the general principles formulated by the ECtHR are binding on all states that have ratified the ECHR. In other words, a state cannot ignore the judgments of the ECtHR, the case law that has developed, and wait for an identical national case to reach the ECtHR in order to have a judgment against itself. As a precautionary measure, States should take steps to ensure that their national laws and practices comply with the standards of the Convention.

Con la lectura de una declaración programática de las defensorías del pueblo hoy han finalizado las XXXVII Jornadas de Coordinación de Defensorías del Pueblo organizadas por el Ararteko en Vitoria-Gasteiz. Bajo el título La labor de las defensorías en la promoción del derecho a la buena Administración expertos de diferentes ámbitos y personal de las defensorías han ofrecido ponencias y han participado en varias mesas redondas. 

La jornada ha comenzado con una mesa redonda en la que se ha debatido sobre la dimensión ética de la buena administración como eje de los sistemas de integridad en la que ha intervenido Gianluca Esposito, director general de Derechos Humanos y Estado de Derecho del Consejo de Europa y representantes de la Valedora Do Pobo de Galicia y del procurador del Común de Castilla y León. 

Además, 6 jóvenes de entre 12 y 16 años, representantes de los consejos de adolescentes de Andalucía, Canarias, Cataluña y del Ararteko, y que ya se reunieron en junio para reflexionar sobre cómo las personas jóvenes se relacionan con la administración, han presentado un documento con sugerencias de mejora concretas para una buena administración desde la perspectiva juvenil.

Estos chicos y chicas reclaman, fundamentalmente, que se les escuche y se tengan en cuenta sus opiniones, sobre todo en la toma de decisiones sobre asuntos de su interés como puede ser la educación, el espacio público, los espacios de ocio, o el acceso a los servicios de salud mental, entre otros.

Según la declaración programática presentada por los defensores y defensoras la buena administración exige situar a la ciudadanía en el centro de las actuaciones de las administraciones públicas y destaca que las y los servidores públicos deben actuar con empatía y sensibilidad social.  

DECLARACIÓN PROGRAMÁTICA

Vitoria-Gasteiz, 30 de octubre de 2024

Problems arising from delays in the appointment of dates for the medical assessment of persons with disabilities by the Territorial Expert Medical Boards (TEMBs)/the National Expert Medical Board (NEMB) continue. This was made clear at a meeting of the Monitoring Committee under the Persons with Disabilities Act that was held at the Ombudsman headquarters.

11 October 2024

Problems arising from delays in the appointment of dates for the medical assessment of persons with disabilities by the Territorial Expert Medical Boards (TEMBs)/the National Expert Medical Board (NEMB) continue. This was made clear at a meeting of the Monitoring Committee under the Persons with Disabilities Act that was held at the Ombudsman headquarters.

Citizens continue to face difficulties in the provision of the needed aids, appliances, equipment and medical devices that are outside the scope of the compulsory health insurance and their quality and length of service life.

People approach the Ombudsman Institution to seek assistance to ease the conditions for the physical delivery of the products by the providers and repairers of medical devices, aids and equipment.

Owing to serious delays and unavailability of information about the provision of high-tech devices to people with disabilities under the project “Provision of Aids to Permanently Disabled People” about which the Ombudsman Institution has already informed the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP), the Monitoring Committee took a decision to submit an opinion on the solution of the problem.

Also, the attendees of the meeting approved a general letter regarding medical devices and aids to be sent to the heads of the institutions in charge: the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

An important issue discussed by the Monitoring Committee members was the continuing delays in the appointment of dates for the TEMB/NEMB medical assessment.

Citizens complain that the software-supported system of random distribution of files provides links to nonexistent or newly constituted boards, which are planned to go into operation in early 2025.

A significant number of citizens object to the awarded percentage of the type and degree of disability/degree of permanently reduced capacity to work, the most prominent examples being children with Down syndrome.

In addition, people report to the Ombudsman Institution that they are not timely notified by the Regional Health Inspectorates about the need to submit the medical dossier for re-assessment, about the suspension of the pension and about the long time that it takes the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) to consider the application  following the issuance of the expert decision by the TEMB/NEMB.

It was decided that the Monitoring Committee should send recommendations to the Ministry of Health and to the National Expert Medical Board to provide information from the medical assessment database after the amendments of June 2024 about: the length of the proceedings involved, the reasons for the still existing delays and the measures taken to cope with the problems in the system.

At the meeting, the Monitoring Committee members also discussed the unavailability of agreed criteria concerning the provision of privileged parking cards to people with disabilities under Art. 99а of the Road Traffic Act.

The analysis of the numerous complaints of citizens to the Ombudsman Institution show that different, and in many cases restrictive criteria have been enforced by the municipal councils in individual municipalities across the country. This is a serious impediment to people with permanent disabilities who are residents of such a municipality and their domicile falls under its jurisdiction to use cards for privileged parking not just in their place of residence but also in the other municipalities countrywide and in the other member states.

A decision was taken to write a general opinion of the Monitoring Committee on the case and to send it to the heads of the institutions in charge: the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The Committee will insist on action to address the problems as the matter for resolution is assigned to the Council of Ministers or the ministers within whose competence the matter lies.

Another decision made by the Monitoring Committee members was to support the position of the Ombudsman Institution to the Sofia Municipality with a supplement and a copy to the Sofia Metropolitan Directorate of Interior regarding the security of the subways and the easy access to the area of the Central Railway Station and to send a general opinion of the Monitoring Committee to the Minister of Transport and Communications vis-à-vis the accessibility of the platforms and the existence of an approved modus operandi  when a person with a disability wishes to travel by train of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ).

On 14 October 2024, Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights Wojciech Brzozowski received a delegation from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) at the Commissioner's Office. The meeting concerned the new laws regulating the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal.
The Venice Commission was represented by: the President of the Constitutional Tribunal of Austria Christoph Grabenwarter, former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights and former Vice-President of the Commission Angelika Nussberger, as well as its Honorary Chairman Kaarlo Tuori and the Commission's Legal Advisor Tania Van Dijk.
The Venice Commission delegation was invited to Poland by the Ministry of Justice. The purpose of her visit is to analyze the recently adopted changes in the statutory foundations of the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal. During the meeting of the ZRPO, Wojciech Brzozowski presented to the representatives of the Commission the most important reservations and comments contained in the opinion of the Commissioner for Human Rights to the Act – Provisions introducing the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal and the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal. He also answered questions from members of the Commission concerning individual solutions provided for in the new law.