On Friday 13 June, Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen submitted his Annual Report 2024 to Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho.

In 2024, there were a total of 6,088 complaints (7,124 in 2023). This is just over 1,000 (14.5%) less than the previous year, but the number has gone up again this year. The largest number of complaints concerned social welfare 1,233 (1,136), the police 699 (855), healthcare 675 (803) and criminal sanctions 577 (591). In the reporting year, 6,286 complaints were resolved. The corresponding figure in 2023 was 6,876.

There were 156 (133 in 2023) submissions and hearings and 77 (83) inspections were carried out.

Ensuring the constitutional status and independence of the Parliamentary Ombudsman

In his general comment, Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen concludes that the Ombudsman’s independence would be infringed if an authority subject to their supervision, such as another supervisory authority, were to target oversight at the Ombudsman, i.e. oversee their overseer. The Constitutional Law Committee has considered that this is not constitutionally possible.

In some situations, a party that is constitutionally subject to the Ombudsman’s oversight has been at risk of being excluded from the Ombudsman’s oversight powers. Such a situation emerged when dealing with the exercise of public power by NATO and US troops in Finland. Even in such a regulatory context, the Constitutional Law Committee did not want to exclude the authority of the supreme overseers of legality, leaving it to be assessed by them on a case-by-case basis.

The supreme overseer of legality is not suited for the “operational” oversight of any activity, by which Jääskeläinen means continuous and detailed oversight, or the oversight of ongoing activities. If the Ombudsman were to intervene in a pending matter or ongoing activities, the Ombudsman could no longer independently and objectively assess the same matter in ex-post oversight of legality.

Jääskeläinen estimates that the greatest threats related to the above situations come from directly applicable legislation of the European Union. This is because no other EU Member States have overseers of legality whose constitutional status and powers are comparable to the Finnish Ombudsman and the Chancellor of Justice.

The Ombudsman’s role in the ex-post supervision of the constitutionality of laws

In her general comment, Deputy-Ombudsman Maija Sakslin examines the role of the Ombudsman in the ex-post supervision of the constitutionality of laws.

During the reporting year, the debate on constitutional review of legislation was particularly active. Several experts expressed support for strengthening ex-post constitutional review and potentially establishing a constitutional court. Less attention has been paid to how issues concerning the constitutionality of laws would be initiated in ex-post review.

In countries with a constitutional court or where ordinary courts have the authority to review the constitutionality of laws, the Ombudsman often has the power to bring such matters before the court. Some Ombudsmen also have the authority to request a court to confirm whether laws meet the requirements of international human rights obligations.

The Ombudsman’s power to initiate a constitutional review may be limited to cases where the question of the constitutionality of applicable law arises from a complaint. However, in many countries, the Ombudsman can also request abstract reviews, not limited to individual complaints.

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has repeatedly recommended that the mandate of the Ombudsmen should include the possibility of applying for an abstract judgement on questions concerning the constitutionality of laws affecting fundamental rights.
If the constitutional reform abolishing the threshold of evident conflict in Section 106 of the Finnish Constitution were to proceed, it would be possible to consider whether the Ombudsman could refer a constitutional issue arising from a complaint to a court (primarily the Supreme Court or the Supreme Administrative Court).

The Parliamentary Ombudsman interprets and develops good governance

In his general comment, Deputy-Ombudsman Mikko Sarja examines certain questions concerning the interpretation of general acts applicable to public administration, which are often discussed in the oversight of legality of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Ombudsman traditionally oversees the legality of the official proceedings, in which acts applicable to public administration play a central role.  Their objective is to ensure that everyone has the right to have their case dealt with appropriately and that the guarantees of good governance are implemented in accordance with the Constitution. Good governance is at the heart of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s task of overseeing fundamental rights. In most common cases it is a question of applying the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Language Act. 

The Deputy-Ombudsman Sarja examines in more detail issues related to the decision-making of authorities, the ways of obtaining information from the authorities enabled by different laws and questions related to linguistic rights. Especially when it comes to the latter, the emphasis has shifted from language issues in the use of the authorities’ traditional services to assessing the authorities’ websites, social media use, individual and sometimes fairly specific linguistic issues, and the use of foreign languages.  

In terms of their basic solutions, the oldest general acts have already been in force almost in their current forms for a long time, approximately between 20 and 25 years, and they do not always provide unambiguous answers. On the other hand, the broad nature of the acts makes interpretation possible, which reduces the need for changes. It is still advisable to review these acts from time to time, as well. It is important that the general acts laid down for different purposes and at different times are clear and up to date not only separately but also in relation to each other. The reform of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities is therefore pending at the Ministry of Justice. There is also a need to review the Language Act, the Sámi Language Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. 

The Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman has been published (in Finnish) on the Ombudsman's website, and a summary in English will be published at a later date.

For further information, please contact Administrative Assessor Astrid Geisor-Goman, tel. +358 9 432 3391.

On June 10-12, Irine Chikhladze, Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, participated in the 18^th Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was held at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The main theme of the conference was “Enhancing public awareness of the rights and contributions of persons with disabilities for social development”.

In a roundtable format, representatives of UN institutions, as well as governments and civil society organizations of the States Parties, discussed ways of empowering persons with disabilities and enhancing social development policies through innovative financing; “Leaving no one behind”: using AI as a tool for supporting inclusivity to strengthen the participation of persons with disabilities; recognising and addressing the rights of indigenous persons with disabilities and their role in advancing disability inclusion.

In parallel with the conference, other events were also held on the rights of persons with disabilities, which discussed issues of access to justice, amendments to national legislation considering Article 13 of the CRPD, and innovative inclusive communications; importance of accessibility, equal reproductive rights for women with disabilities, and the harmful effects of climate change on mental health.

The participants in the meetings agreed to cooperate in developing a unified approach to the implementation of the UNCRPD.

Vom Bürger her denken – Positionspapier der Bürgerbeauftragten der Länder zur Digitalisierung in der Verwaltung

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267 Petitionen abschließend bearbeitet

Der Petitionsausschuss des Thüringer Landtags stellt am Dienstag (17. Juni) seinen Bericht für das Jahr 2024 vor. Die Ausschussvorsitzende Nadine Hoffmann übergab den Bericht an Vizepräsident Steffen Quasebarth. Von den 551 eingereichten Petitionen wurden 267 abschließend bearbeitet. 

Landtagspräsident Dr. Thadäus König sagte im Vorfeld: „Das Petitionsrecht ist eines der Kernelemente einer lebendigen Demokratie. Der Petitionsausschuss wird deshalb als einer der ersten Ausschüsse mit der konstituierenden Sitzung gebildet. Die zwölf neuen Mitglieder haben nahtlos dort angeknüpft, wo ihre Vorgänger der 7. Wahlperiode aufgehört haben, denn die Bearbeitung Hunderter Anfragen duldet keinen Aufschub.“

„Egal, aus welchem Grund sich jemand an den Ausschuss wendet: Die Petentinnen und Petenten bringen nicht nur ihre Anliegen, sondern auch ihre Hoffnungen und Ängste ein. Es ist die Aufgabe des Petitionsausschusses, diesen Empfindungen Gehör zu verschaffen“, so Dr. König weiter. „Mein Dank gilt den ehemaligen und aktuellen Ausschussmitgliedern, dem Bürgerbeauftragten, der so manches Anliegen weiterbearbeitet hat, und nicht zuletzt den Mitarbeitern des Ausschussreferats, die die reibungslose Fortsetzung der Arbeit im Ausschuss ermöglicht haben. Damit stärken Sie auch das Vertrauen in unsere Demokratie.“