Parliament Approves Report on Work of National Ombudsman in 2019
NW 14:27:32 24-09-2020
LN1428NW.106
106 POLITIC-NATIONAL OMBUDSMAN-2019 REPORT
Parliament Approves Report on
Work of National Ombudsman
in 2019
Sofia, September 24 (BTA) - Parliament Thursday approved the report on the work of the National Ombudsman in 2019, in a 152-0 vote with one abstention. It shows that the most common breaches the Ombudsman had to address concerned consumer rights, work and social security rights, the right to healthcare and education, among others.
In 2019 some 50,000 members of the public received assistance from the Ombudsman. A total of 12,916 complaints and alerts were made to the institution, 1 per cent more than in 2018. A total of 13,762 complaints were dealt with and closed.
2019 was important for the institution of the National Ombudsman as it received UN's highest status A for human rights protection.
In 2019 the Ombudsman approached the Constitutional Court five times, prepared 13 legislative initiatives and opinions, held 32 roundtables and public consultations, and organized 17 national campaigns. Some 1,823 recommendations were made to various institutions, more than half of which were implemented.
Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva said that the institution continued to work online during the coronavirus epidemic. Two months after a state of emergency was declared over Covid-19 in mid-March, the number of complaints increased by 30 per cent, most of them relating to violations of work and social security rights as many people were laid off.
Kovacheva noted that online schooling saved the school year but revealed one very acute problem: digital poverty and digital exclusion.
Thirty-eight per cent of the complaints submitted to the Ombudsman in 2019 concerned state authorities and their administrations. Nearly 44 per cent of the complaints were against bodies governed by private law: water companies, heating utilities, electricity distribution companies, private enforcement agents, fast loans companies, and debt collectors.
Kovacheva said that people complained very strongly against "the arbitrary treatment on the part of debt collectors and fast loan companies". She recalled that the Justice Ministry has prepared and submitted to Parliament a bill on debt collectors, and said it needs to be passed quickly, along with the bill on personal insolvency.
While the report was debated, MP Peter Petrov of the United Patriots coalition urged the Ombudsman to address the rights and freedoms of Muslim women. Petrov said he received letters from doctors saying that Muslim women go to the doctor's with an interpreter because they do not speak Bulgarian. RI/ZH
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LN1428NW.106
106 POLITIC-NATIONAL OMBUDSMAN-2019 REPORT
Parliament Approves Report on
Work of National Ombudsman
in 2019
Sofia, September 24 (BTA) - Parliament Thursday approved the report on the work of the National Ombudsman in 2019, in a 152-0 vote with one abstention. It shows that the most common breaches the Ombudsman had to address concerned consumer rights, work and social security rights, the right to healthcare and education, among others.
In 2019 some 50,000 members of the public received assistance from the Ombudsman. A total of 12,916 complaints and alerts were made to the institution, 1 per cent more than in 2018. A total of 13,762 complaints were dealt with and closed.
2019 was important for the institution of the National Ombudsman as it received UN's highest status A for human rights protection.
In 2019 the Ombudsman approached the Constitutional Court five times, prepared 13 legislative initiatives and opinions, held 32 roundtables and public consultations, and organized 17 national campaigns. Some 1,823 recommendations were made to various institutions, more than half of which were implemented.
Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva said that the institution continued to work online during the coronavirus epidemic. Two months after a state of emergency was declared over Covid-19 in mid-March, the number of complaints increased by 30 per cent, most of them relating to violations of work and social security rights as many people were laid off.
Kovacheva noted that online schooling saved the school year but revealed one very acute problem: digital poverty and digital exclusion.
Thirty-eight per cent of the complaints submitted to the Ombudsman in 2019 concerned state authorities and their administrations. Nearly 44 per cent of the complaints were against bodies governed by private law: water companies, heating utilities, electricity distribution companies, private enforcement agents, fast loans companies, and debt collectors.
Kovacheva said that people complained very strongly against "the arbitrary treatment on the part of debt collectors and fast loan companies". She recalled that the Justice Ministry has prepared and submitted to Parliament a bill on debt collectors, and said it needs to be passed quickly, along with the bill on personal insolvency.
While the report was debated, MP Peter Petrov of the United Patriots coalition urged the Ombudsman to address the rights and freedoms of Muslim women. Petrov said he received letters from doctors saying that Muslim women go to the doctor's with an interpreter because they do not speak Bulgarian. RI/ZH
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