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Annual Report Summary 2016 SPANISH OMBUDSMAN Annual Report Summary 2016 Madrid, 2017 The total or partial reproduction of the contents of this publication is authorised, as long as the source is cited. It may not, under any circumstances, be reproduced for profitable purpose. Text edited by the Ombudsman Institution Defensor del Pueblo Eduardo Dato, 31 – 28010 Madrid www.defensordelpueblo.es [email protected] SUMMARY Presentation................................................................................................................................. 5 STATISTICS AND MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW......................................................................... 9 SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS..................................................................... 37 Administration of Justice ..................................................................................................... 39 Prisons................................................................................................................................. 44 Civic Responsibility and Public Safety ................................................................................ 49 Migration.............................................................................................................................. 55 Equal Treatment.................................................................................................................. 68 Gender Violence.................................................................................................................. 70 Education............................................................................................................................. 73 Health Services ................................................................................................................... 81 Social Policy ........................................................................................................................ 89 Housing ............................................................................................................................... 99 Security and Public Employment....................................................................................... 103 Public Finance................................................................................................................... 112 Financial Activities............................................................................................................. 120 Communications and Transport ........................................................................................ 129 Environment ...................................................................................................................... 134 Town Planning................................................................................................................... 142 Local Government ............................................................................................................. 147 Public Duty and Employment ............................................................................................ 150 Transparency, Financial Liability and Expropriation.......................................................... 158 National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture (NPM)................................................... 161 INSTITUTIONAL REPRESENTATION ACTIVITIES................................................................ 165 PRESENTATION The Ombudsman Institution presented its 2016 annual report to the Spanish Parliament, in accordance with Ley Orgánica 3/1981, de 6 de abril [Organic Law 3/1981 of 6 April]. This document provides a summarized version of the same. The main objective of all activities carried out by the institution is to reach the greatest number of citizens possible in order to provide the necessary aid and assistance, and at the same time ensure that all individuals who so desire are able to communicate easily with the Institution in order to express their complaints, problems, concerns and the circumstances of their lives, based on which the Institution proceeds with the most appropriate actions before the competent administrations. For all of these reasons, 2016 saw a considerable increase in the number of ex officio investigations and suggestions put forth to the administrations, along with the preparation of the following documented reports: – El asilo en España. La protección internacional y los recursos del sistema de acogida [Asylum in Spain. International protection and reception system resources]; – Los derechos de las víctimas de ETA. Su situación actual [The rights of ETA victims. Their situation today]; – Report in [the Institution’s] capacity as the Mecanismo Nacional de Prevención de la Tortura [National Preventive Mechanism against Torture - abbreviated in Spanish as MNP and hereinafter, NPM]. As confirmed by the number of visits, searches and complaints received, the Institution's website and social networks have been highly useful resources for gaining an understanding of citizens' opinions, providing an account of all activities carried out, showing how the budget approved by the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales) is spent and facilitating access to all of the Institution's documents which may be useful for research, inspections or simply for expanding the knowledge of those making use of them. Moreover, in keeping with its aim to reach the greatest number of people possible, the Institution intensified its presence at all type of facilities in a wide variety of cities and autonomous communities, including centers of education, minor detention centers and centers of deprivation of liberty; visits were also made to reception centers for immigrants both in and beyond the national territory. 5 For the purpose of understanding the opinions held by a large number of citizens with respect to certain issues, the Ombudsman Institution carried out the following surveys and consultations via its website: problems with architectural barriers in public roads and spaces; the beginning of the school year; needs for individuals with celiac disease, and the granting of loans. The responses and results of these surveys have been evaluated, and the findings have enabled the preparation of recommendations for administrations based on a high degree of understanding of the real situation, since the responses are indicative of the daily problems facing or faced by people lacking a clear understanding of where they could take their problems or to whom they could express their points of view. As the consequences of a long economic crisis persist for many, several recommendations have been put forth for assisting both minors and those individuals facing economic hardship. For this reason, the Institution has reiterated the need for municipalities having more than 100,000 inhabitants to establish or reinforce a food guarantee system for families with minors in a situation of greater vulnerability, especially outside the school year. Given that the provision of electricity is essential for a decent quality of life and a necessary condition for the development and protection of other fundamental rights, the cost of electric power has been the cause of ongoing concern, in light of which various inspections were carried out concerning the social electricity allowance, the high proportion of fixed charges for electricity bills, the possibility of making the contracted level of power capacity more flexible, and the prevention of power cuts for citizens in situations of particular vulnerability, with the cooperation of the city councils. The Institution has also continued to insist on banking entities providing their clients with as much information as possible in a clear and simple manner concerning banking products and the granting of loans that may have been carried out with other entities. Transparency and accurate information form part of the code of best practices to which the majority of entities have committed and with which they have the obligation to comply. The Institution has again insisted on refunds related to mortgage floor clauses, which have already been the object of a detailed study in previous years, with the subsequent issuing of several recommendations. Owing to the fact that the sentence from the European Court of Justice of 21 December 2016 compels entities to return the entirety of that charged, the Ombudsman Institution recommended the creation of an extrajudicial system in order to avoid long, costly and complex legal proceedings. A recent royal decree of urgent measures foresees the creation of a system having the aforementioned characteristics. Issues regarding air pollution have proven to be of concern to many citizens, such that city councils were asked about their short-term plans of action for fighting pollution and were requested to inform citizens as to the same. Noise is an ongoing concern and is considered a great nuisance by the many people attesting to the same. The Ombudsman Institution and the autonomous community Ombudsmen held a working meeting on 22 and 23 September 2016 in Pamplona for the purpose of studying ways to approach these complaints and the recommendations to be made to municipalities. The right to rest and the right to family and 6 personal privacy may not be infringed upon in an abrupt and intolerable manner by noise from a nearby location. This has been made clear by the existing judgments on this topic. The Institution has continued its inspections of the
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