Complaints in the 4th Quarter of 2016

A total of 2050 complaints were received in the fourth quarter of 2016, which is 398  more than in the same period last year. The Ombudsman was approached by 1354 persons in matters falling within my competence under the law, which is 303 more than in the 4th quarter of the last year. Thus, the proportion of complaints falling within the Ombudsman’s mandate increased to 66% (the figure for 2015 was 64%). Most complaints were related to social security (375 complaints); many complaints (137) concerned the area of construction proceedings and spatial planning and also the prison system, police and the army (134).

In 92 of the complaints received, the complainants claimed unequal treatment by public administration and private individuals. The number of complaints against discrimination within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act reached 58. In 21 cases, we also provided information and analyses related to discrimination to international parties and national bodies.

In the fourth quarter, we performed 5 systematic visits to facilities where persons restricted in their freedom are or may be present. In the area of monitoring detention of foreign nationals and the performance of administrative expulsion, we monitored 1,472 decisions.