Strengthening the Public Defender of Rights’ activities in human rights protection

Project Partners

The Office will forge a new partnership with the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, (i.e. the Norwegian NHRI), which is experienced in promoting human rights approach within its activities. Employees of the Office will visit the Norwegian NHRI in order to obtain know-how and familiarise themselves with best practices and working methods of their Norwegian colleagues.

Project Summary

Pursuant to Act No. 349/1999 Coll., on the Public Defender of Rights, as amended, the Public Defender of Rights (hereinafter the “Defender”) has, from the very beginning of the institution, protected individuals against acts of selected public authorities and institutions in order to carry out his or her explicit statutory role of contributing to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. The Defender is active not only within the framework of maintaining basic lawfulness; in addition to protecting the principles of good governance, the Defender also monitors the observance of rule of law to the extent in which it is inseparably linked with the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in modern democratic countries. In the years that followed the establishment of the Defender’s institution, new responsibilities closely linked with human rights were added to the Defender’s portfolio, including e.g. protection of persons deprived of liberty, equal treatment and protection against discrimination.

At the present time, the Defender, i.e. the Office of the Public Defender of Rights (hereinafter the “Office”), which provides for the professional, organisational and technical support of the Defender’s activities, has sufficient resources to fund its basic roles and responsibilities. However, the Defender lacks resources to cover a broader range of activities with a society-wide impact aimed at promoting systemic changes.

Project Goal

The project aims to address this situation by hiring new staff for four of the Office’s departments:

1. The secretariat of the Defender and her Deputy, with the objective of consistent and systematic application of international and constitutional standards of human rights protection in the Defender’s work;
2. The Department of Supervision over Restrictions of Personal Freedom, to strengthen prevention of ill-treatment;
3. The Department of Family, Healthcare and Labour, to strengthen the protection of vulnerable children and their families and to promote the rights of children;
4. The Department of Equal Treatment, to boost the exercise of the right to equal treatment and protection against discrimination.

This pre-defined project No LP-PDP3-001 is fundend by Norway Grants 2014 – 2021 (programme Human Rights) and will enable to carry out analytical, research and awareness-raising activities helping to improve the situation of vulnerable and marginalised groups, both in terms of protection of their rights and in terms of obtaining the competences necessary to exercise these rights.

• www.norskefondy.cz
• www.eeagrants.org

The Office will forge a new partnership with the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, (i.e. the Norwegian NHRI), which is experienced in promoting human rights approach within its activities. Employees of the Office will visit the Norwegian NHRI in order to obtain know-how and familiarise themselves with best practices and working methods of their Norwegian colleagues.

2024

April 22, 2024 - as part of the defender's activities, which are aimed at greater comprehensibility of the written outputs of the public administration, we are publishing the Final Report from the conducted research testing the comprehensibility of the outputs of the Public Defender of Rights.

March 4, 2024 - we publish the final report from the research, which focused on the accessibility of public buildings and services in individual regional towns. People with disabilities directly verified the accessibility of selected branches of the Czech Social Security Administration, the Czech Post Office, regional hospitals, the labor office, the court, but also public transport or the websites of the visited authorities. None of the tested institutions fully meets the requirements for accessibility for people with visual, hearing or physical disabilities. Research entitled Accessibility of Public Buildings and Services to People with Disabilities showed that the level of accessibility and the number of obstacles differ for individual types of disabilities. The most accessible buildings are for people with physical disabilities. On the contrary, people with hearing impairment have to overcome the biggest barriers.

March 1, 2024 – we are publishing the final report from the research Deinstitutionalisation and transformation of social services, when the protector mapped how the process of deinstitutionalization and transformation of social services for people with disabilities is taking place. He focused primarily on how regions not only define these processes, but also on how they directly involve people with disabilities in planning the transformation of institutions. The research, entitled Deinstitutionalization and Transformation of Social Services, consisted of a content analysis of the medium-term plans of social services of the regions and also in interviews with representatives of the regions.

February 27, 2024 - we organized the final press conference of the project. Find more here.

January 17, 2024 - we publish Recommendations for employers – How to avoid discrimination in the workplace, as well as the related practical guideThe most frequent cases of workplace discrimination and how to avoid them, and we also bring insights from fulfilling the right to equal treatment and protection against discrimination for the year 2023 in the monitoring report Implementation of the Right to Equal Treatment and Protection against Discrimination.

January 1, 2024 - we are publishing a research report Good Practice in the Provision of Housing to Vulnerable People. Using research, we decided to find examples of good practice in providing housing across regions and different target groups. In this way, we want to contribute to a better awareness of what is successful and working, but also to name the shortcomings that the state should solve in the future.

What we implemented as part of the project in 2023

• December 19, 2023 - you can see what the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities looks like in an easy-to-read format here.
• December 15, 2023 –  following the Office's partnership with the Norwegian national human rights institution - Norges institusjon for menskerettigheter, we present an up-to-date view of the establishment of a national human rights institution in the Czech Republic. You can read the article here.
• December 14, 2023 –  we are publishing the twentieth report from the follow-up visit to the facility from the Radkov – Dubová Children's Home here.
• November 30, 2023 – we realized the workshop My life, my choice, or self-determination, where we presented the preliminary results of research on the topic of deinstitutionalization, which maps the approach of regions and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in the context of fulfilling the rights of people with disabilities. You can see the workshop presentation here.
• November 29, 2023 – we organized a workshop on accessibility and barrier-free use of buildings, where we focused on research results regarding the procedures of building authorities and regional authorities in this area. You can see the workshop presentation here.

• November 24, 2023 – we are publishhing the eighteenth report from the follow-up visit to the police cell of the Mělník District Department here and the nineteenth report from the follow-up visit to the Home for Seniors Uničov, s.r.o. here.
• November 22, 2023 – we are publishing the sixteenth report from the follow-up visit to the Žulová Educational Institution here and the seventeenth report from the follow-up visit to the police cell of the district department of Litoměřice here.
• November 22, 2023 - we held a workshop Good practice in providing housing for vulnerable groups with the aim of presenting the main results of our research and discussing examples of good practice, but also the obstacles encountered by helping organizations. You can see the workshop presentation here.

• November 13, 2023 – today we organized the 3rd meeting of the children's participation group. You can find out how it went here.
• November 13, 2023 – we publish the Report on the own-initiative investigation and recommendations in the case of contacts between children and parents in prison focused on the activities of child social and legal protection authorities (OSPOD) here. In recent years, parents in prison have increasingly complained that they are not allowed personal or indirect contact with their children. The investigation of several individual complaints about OSPOD's procedure revealed often serious errors, as well as the inconsistent practice of OSPOD supported by the absence of methodological support. The investigation was focused on children who have at least one parent in prison and who OSPOD keeps in the register of children at risk, performs preventive and counseling activities or collision guardianship. We tracked the period from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022.
• The investigation took place in the form of an electronic questionnaire, in which all municipal authorities of municipalities with extended powers participated. The results of the questionnaire survey are part of the sociological research, which is attached to the survey report here.
• At the same time, we are publishing the Report on the self-initiated investigation and recommendations of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic regarding the contact of children with imprisoned parents here. In this report, we summarize the results of an investigation into the procedure of Prison Service in ensuring contact of children with incarcerated parents. Without her cooperation, it is not possible to ensure the contacts of the imprisoned parent with the children. The conclusions and recommendations from this report can be generalized and reasonably applied to all groups of incarcerated parents – accused in custody, convicted in prison and inmates in protective detention.

• November 11, 2023 - we held the second run of the third children's participation group, you can find out more informations here.

• September 18, 2023 - We organized a round table with the participation of the Norwegian partner. You can read more here.

• September 14, 2023 - we held a round table on the subject of contacts between children and parents in prison and the related practice of the social and legal protection of children.

• September 4, 2023 – we bring insights from the fulfillment of the right to equal treatment and protection against discrimination for the year 2022. You can find the press release with further details here, monitoring report for 2022 here.

• August 22, 2022 - we are publishing the fifth Report from the subsequent visit to the facility, namely from the Reception Center and facility for securing foreigners in Bělá – Jezová here.

• August 8, 2023 - we are publishing the fourteenth report from the follow-up visit to the facility, namely the Balková Facility for Detention of Foreigners here, and the fifteenth report from the follow-up visit to the Plzeň Police Cell facility here.

• August 3, 2022 - we are publishing the fourth Report from the follow-up visit to the facility, from the Educational institution Kostomlaty Pod Milešovka here.

• July 18, 2023 – we are publishing the eleventh report from the follow-up visit to the facility Zlín Police Cell facility here, the twelfth report from the follow-up visit to the facility Višňové Educational Institute here, and the thirteenth report from the follow-up visit to the facility Jihlava Police Cell facility here.

• July 16, 2022 - we are publishing the second Report from the follow-up visit to the facility from Remand prison Liberec here and the third report from the follow-up visit to the facility from the Children's home with school Býchory here.

• June 23, 2023 - you can read the results of extensive research by the Public Defender of Rights on the topic of pregnancy and maternity at the workplace in the press release. We also publish the survey report.

• June 22, 2023 - we held a Parenting at the Workplace workshop for the general public. The aim of the workshop was to present findings from research on Pregnancy and Maternity at the Workplace. Here you can see the presentation on the research report, the presentation on the recommendations,  the presentation on the practical guide and the presentation on the case studies.

• June 7, 2023 - for the 9th monitoring period, we publish the professional outputs of the secretariat of the defender and his deputy. This concerns the notification of the public defender of rights to the government of the Czech Republic about the failure to remedy the established errors of the office in the matter of the legal status of stateless persons, the notification of the public defender of rights to the government of the Czech Republic about the failure to remedy the detected errors of the office in the matter of the non-acceptance of full powers in the procedure for granting international protection and the notification of the public defender of rights to the government of the Czech Republic about the failure to remedy the detected errors of the office in the matter of delays in the proceedings for the granting of international protection to a group of so-called Chinese Christians.

• June 7, 2023 - we are publishing the tenth report from the follow-up visit to the facility  Kosmonosy Psychiatric Hospital. The report is available here. (na webu to už je, ale špatně očíslované, má to být desátá zpráva)

• June 7, 2023 - we are publishing the ninth report from the Follow-up visit from from Kosmonosy Psychiatric Hospital. The report is available here.

• June 6, 2023 – we are publishing the second project monitoring report in the area of fulfilling the right to protection against discrimination for the year 2022.

• May 19, 2023 - We organized the second meeting of the children's participation group. School teams came to Brno - the authors of the seven best high school projects entered in our Elevator competition: it all starts with an idea. You can read more about how high school students want to change the world around them here.

• April 26, 2023 - We are publishing more modules of the e-learning course on anti-discrimination law. You can find more in the press release here.

• March 7, 2023 -  media reports about our new e-learning course here.

• March 1, 2023 - on the occasion of Zero Discrimination Day, which falls on March 1., we are launching the first module of the online course, which is focused on anti-discrimination law. You can read more in the press release here and view the course here.

• February 6, 2023 - we are publishing the ninth report from the Follow-up visit from from the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Hospital in Pilsen. The report is available here.

• January 20, 2023 - we are publishing the eighth report from the Follow-up visit from Home for people with disabilities Osek. The report is available here.

What we implemented as part of the project in 2022

• December 19, 2022 - we are publishing the seventh report from the Follow-up visit from the Police cells of the district department Třebíč. The report is available here.

• December 15, 2022 - for the 9th monitoring period, we publish the professional outputs of the Secretariat of the Defender and his deputy. This concerns the notification of the public defender of rights to the government of the Czech Republic. See more information here 1, 2 and 3.

• December 15, 2022 - for the 8th monitoring period, we publish the professional outputs of the Secretariat of the Defender and his deputy. These are sanctions materials against the government (unregistered Mladé Buky social services facility), statement of an intervener in the proceedings before the ECtHR (unregistered Mladé Buky social services facility) and two materials related to the defender's legislative comments, namely the amendment of the Act on the Execution of Imprisonment Sentences and further the so-called Lex Ukraine IV.

• December 12, 2022 – We held the first children's participation group that took place online. Children from twelve school groups had the opportunity to present and discuss their projects. Learn more about this activity here.

• October 19, 2022 - The ombudsman has long been devoted to the comprehensibility of documents, so that people understand what he writes to them. We examine why some official texts are comprehensible to the public and others not, what the biggest difficulties are and whether we can fix them. That is why we organized a round table on 14th of October 2022 where we could discuss this topic with experts. You can find the press release on the activity here.

• October 19, 2022 - we are publishing the sixth report from the Follow-up visit to the facility, from the Louny Children's Psychiatric Hospital. The report is available here.

• October 12, 2022 - we publish Recommendations regarding the search for general foster parents and adopters for children in foster care for a transitional period in 2021 here. When dealing with individual complaints, we repeatedly encounter a non-uniform approach by the regional authorities of the Czech Republic when searching for general foster parents and adopters for children who are in foster care for a temporary period. We have therefore decided to start an investigation on our own initiative and through research to examine more closely the procedure of regional authorities and municipal authorities of municipalities with extended powers. The research report Analyzing the files of children in transitional foster care is available here.                                               

• September 27, 2022 - we publish a press release on the status of the project, which has flipped into its second half. You can read about everything we have done in a comprehensive overview here. The press release is available here.
• September 2, 2022 - we publish the 5th part of the video with vlogger Anička on the topic of the rights of people with disabilities. You can find the video here.
• September 1, 2022 - we have edited the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a form suitable for a child reader. See more information here.

• June 30, 2022 - we publish the 4th part of a video with vlogger Anička on the topic of education. You can find the video here.
• June 30, 2022 - we publish a press release that summarizes the topics that arose at the children's conference. You can find the press release here.
• June 22, 2022 - we publish the 3rd part of the series about the ombudsman for children Anička vlogs. This time the topic is discrimination. You can see the video here.
• June 16, 2022 –  you can see how it turned out at the children's conference here.
• June 16, 2022 - we publish the 2nd part of the series Anička vlogs, on the topic of Authorities. You can find the video here.
• June 15, 2022 – we are publishing the second project monitoring report in the area of fulfilling the right to protection against discrimination for the year 2021.
• June 15, 2022 - as part of education aimed at children, we organized the first ever conference intended for children. Participation in the conference was won by school teams in a creative competition on the topic "How the ombudsman helps children". Four hundred pupils from 33 elementary schools and multi-year high schools from all over the Czech Republic signed up for it. Among the eighty competition entries were songs, short stories, posters, pictures, poems, presentations or videos, and comics. The young participants discussed topics such as children's participation in public life or where they look for help in solving various problems, and what they think the children's ombudsman should do. 

• You can find more information about the conference on the children's website here, or in the press release here, which summarizes all project activities in the field of education aimed at children. And you can watch the press release in video format with subtitles and in sign language here. The press release is available here.
• June 15, 2022 - the recording of the press conference where we presented the project activities implemented so far in the framework of education aimed at children can be found here.
• June 15, 2022, for the 7th monitoring period we publish the professional outputs of the Secretariat of the Defender and his deputy. These are legislative comments (comments of the Defender on the draft decree amending Decree of Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Communications No. 505/2006 Coll., which implements certain provisions of the Act on Social Services, as amended). Furthermore, it concerns the statement of an intervenor in the proceedings before the Constitutional Court (proposal for the repeal of selected provisions of Act No. 324/2021 Coll., on one-time compensation of entities affected by an extraordinary event in the Vlachovice - Vrbětice munitions warehouse area and on the amendment of some laws) and the statement of an intervenor in proceedings before the Constitutional Court (proposal for repeal of § 454, paragraph 1 of Act No. 292/2013 Coll., on special court proceedings, as amended).

• April 20, 2022, we held a workshop for representatives of ministries and other authorities, some regions and non-profit organizations working with foreigners - EU citizens. The aim of the workshop was to present the results of an extensive survey of EU citizens in the Czech Republic, which found out how EU citizens live in the Czech Republic and what problems they face, and also to discuss the Defender's recommendations based on this research. Here you can watch a presentation to get acquainted with the recommendations, a  24_obcane-eu-v-cesku_prezentace-k-realizovanemu-vyzkumu.pdf on the research and a  presentation within the discussion group.

• February 15, 2022 we are publishing a Parenthood and discrimination at work: practical guide for parents regarding their right to equal treatment in the labour market here.

• February 2, 2022 we are publishing the first Report on the subsequent visit to the facility from the Hrotovice Children's Home as part of the project. The report is available here.

• January 1, 2022 - you can read about the completed research Citizens of the EU in the Czech Republic here.

What we implemented as part of the project in 2021

• December 15, 2021, for the 6th monitoring period, we publish the professional outputs of the Secretariat of the Defender and his deputy. These are sanction material for the government (issues of the currently effective legal regulation of the care allowance),  sanction material for the government (illegal procedure of regional branches of the Labor Office and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in removing jobseekers material to the government (illegal procedure of the OAMP MV when stopping the proceedings on the application for a long-term residence permit), as well as on the statement of the intervener in the proceedings before ÚS (proposal to repeal § 94 letter a) of Act No. 6/2002 Coll. for conflict with the constitutional order), for the statement of the intervener in the proceedings before the Constitutional Court (proposal to repeal selected provisions of Acts No. 111/2006 Coll. and No. 251/2016 Coll. for conflict with the constitutional order), for the GTC report on activities for III. quarter 2021 (inclusion of a separate section containing key information on the current phase of project implementation in the KVOP) and on legislative comments (comments of the GTC on the draft law amending Act No. 117/1995 Coll.).

• November 12, 2021, we are publishing an analytical report from the Citizens of the European Union in the Czech Republic survey, the aim of which is to examine the experiences of EU migrant workers and their family members currently residing in the Czech Republic in various areas of life. Following the research report, we publish Recommendations, the purpose of which is to use the findings of the analytical report of the research and the activities of the Defender and on the basis of them to propose individual partial recommendations that would help improve the unsatisfactory situation. The documents can also be found in the Register of Ombudsman Opinions.

• October 14, 2021 today we started a three-day online meeting with the Norwegian partner Norges institusjon for menneskerettigheter. We focused the interactive workshop on the topic "Paris Principles in Practice".

• October 8, 2021 we publish an information leaflet for children "I am in a psychiatric hospital".

• October 7, 2021 we publish the Recommendation of the Deputy Ombudsman regarding the search for general foster parents and adoptive parents for children in foster care for a transitional period. The aim is to provide the public administration with feedback and recommendations in the area of ​​mediation of foster care and adoption. The individual authorities will be informed about the results, as well as the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which manages the authorities methodically in this area, and is therefore responsible for the possible regulation of fragmented administrative practice.

• August 15, 2021  for the 5th monitoring period, we publish the professional outputs of the Secretariat of the Defender and his deputy. This is a sanction material for the government concerning the issue of unregistered facilities providing social services, as well as the statement of the intervener in the proceedings on the repeal of the provisions of § 155 para. 4 and para. 5 of Act No. 541/2020 Coll., On waste, as amended. regulations and a motion to the Constitutional Court to annul the provisions of point 80 in the part defined in column 2 of Annex No. 4 to Government Decree No. 278/2008 Coll., on the content of individual trades, as amended

• August 12, 2021 we publish Recommendations ZVOP Child's participation in decision-making on matters related to his hospitalization in psychiatry

• June 30, 2021, we are publishing a press release to issue the first monitoring report on equal treatment. In the initial monitoring report on equal treatment, we present three areas that the Ombudsman will systematically monitor by 2023. You can find the monitoring report here.

• April 15, 2021, for the fourth monitoring period of the project, we publish the expert outputs of the Defender's Secretariat and his deputy. This is a proposal to the Constitutional Court to annul the provisions of Section 9, Paragraph 5 of Decree No. 177/1996 Coll.  employmentand the statement of the intervener in the proceedings on the annulment of the provisions of Section 52, Paragraph 4 of Act No. 169/1999 Coll., on the Execution of Sentences of Imprisonment. Next in line is the ENNHRI questionnaire on the collection of litigation information in the case of Duarte Agostinho and others v. Portugal and others before the ECtHR and the annual report on the state of the rule of law in the Czech Republic in 2020 for ENNHRI.

• April 14, 2021 - we publish the Ombudsman's Recommendation on the Deinstitutionalisation of the Care of Young Children and the Ombudsman's Recommendation on the Increase of Remunerations for Foster Parents for a Transitional Period.

• March 22, 2021 - a clear leaflet for children, which describes who the ombudsman is, in which situations he can help children and how children can turn to them, we have in several language variants. The English leaflet can be downloaded here, the German here, the Romani here and the Russian here.
• January 1, 2021 – we launched the first educational video into the world of social networks. It is a pilot part of a miniseries being prepared, which will present the work of the Ombudsman's office using short videos intended primarily for children and adolescents. You can see the video here.

• November 18, 2020 – we publish the recommendation of the Deputy Public Defender of Rights regarding the child's contacts in foster care not only with parents here. The recommendation aims to contribute to the observance of the rights of children entrusted to foster care. It is primarily intended for parents of children, foster parents, accompanying foster care organizations, organizations assisting parents, social and legal protection bodies for children and courts.
• As of 15 December 2020, for the third monitoring period of the project, we publish the expert outputs of the Secretariat of the Public Defender of Rights and his Deputy. Analysis of nominations for UN Committees you can see here. Comments on the draft amendment to the Public Health Protection Act with regard to the pandemic situation you can see here. Two notifications of the Public Defender of Rights to the Government of the Czech Republic on issues concerning stateless persons you can see here and here. And statement of the Public Defender of Rights on an individual constitutional complaint, in which findings were communicated on certain aspects of the effective investigation of violence against prisoners you can see here.
• November 10, 2020 – we have prepared another information material for children and youth. A clear leaflet describes who the ombudsman is, in which situations can help children and how children can turn to him. You can see the leaflet here.
• As of 15 August 2020, for the second monitoring period of the project, we publish the expert outputs of the Secretariat of the Public Defender of Rights and his Deputy. Proposal to the Constitutional Court you can see here. And statements for UN experts – Protecting human rights during and after the COVID-19 in the Czech Republic you can see here.
• On July 29 2020, we held internal training for lawyers of the Office of the Public Defender of Rights.

• In July 2020, we created a special easy read leaflet to improve children's awareness of their rights and obligations. You can see the leaflet here.
• On 23 June 2020, we started series of educational seminars for employees, this time for social workers. The first topic was selected questions and answers in the field of social and legal protection and alternative family care. You can see the other informations here.

• As of 15 April 2020, for the first monitoring period of the project, we publish the expert outputs of the Secretariat of the Public Defender of Rights and his Deputy. Statement to the UN Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights you can see here. Statement of the Public Defender of Rights on the cassation complaint to the Supreme Administrative Court you can see here. Statement of the Deputy Public Defender of Rights as a conflict guardian on a constitutional complaint addressed to the Constitutional Court you can seehere. Comments in the legislative process on the draft law on identity cards you can see here. And annexes to the Ombudsman's report for the Chamber of Deputies for the 4th quarter of 2019 you can see here.
• On 5 March 2020, we started series of educational seminars for employees of facilities detainig person subject to resricted personal freedom. The first topic were findings during the visits to the facilities for children requiring immediate assistance. Seminar was opened by the speech of the Deputy to the Public Defender of Rights Monika Šimůnková. You can see the other informations here.

• On 15 January 2020, we organized an opening press conference where the Public Defender of Rights Anna Šabatová introduced the project Strengthening the Public Defender of Rights’ activities in human rights protection. Present journalists were informed about its goals and international cooperation. You can see the press release here.