PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE 2019 ACTIVITY REPORT Bucharest 2020 The report was sent to the President of the Chamber of Deputies and to the President of the Senate for discussion in Parliament's sitting, according to Art. 60 of the Constitution of Romania PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 CONTENTS Foreword...................................................................................................................................4 People’s Advocate Institution....................................................................................................5 Overall volume of activity.........................................................................................................6 CHAPTER I. The department for human rights, equal opportunities between men and women, religious cults and national minorities...................................................................10 CHAPTER II. The department for the rights of youth, family, pensioners, people with disabilities..............................................................................................................................15 CHAPTER III. The department for the defense, protection and promotion of the rights of the child..............................................................................................................................19 CHAPTER IV. The department for army, justice, police, penitentiaries….....................23 CHAPTER V. The department for property, labor, social protection, taxes and fees..........................................................................................................................................27 CHAPTER VI. The department for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention..........................................32 CHAPTER VII. The activity of the territorial offices of the People's Advocate Institution…………………………………………………………………………………...50 CHAPTER VIII. The Service for constitutional litigation, appeal in the interest of the law, administrative and legal litigation, legal affairs, external relations and communication……………..................................................................................................82 Section 1. The activity of the Bureau for constitutional litigation and appeal in the interest of the law…………………………….……………………………………………..82 Section 2. The activity of the Bureau for administrative and legal litigation………...…86 Section 3. The activity of the Bureau for legal affairs, external relations and communication……………………………………………………………………………..87 CHAPTER IX. Human, material and budgetary resources.............................................90 Section 1. Human Resources……………………………………………………………….90 Section 2. Material and budgetary resources………………………………………………91 CHAPTER X. Audit and risk management........................................................................93 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 4 Foreword Mr. Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, President of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Teodor-Viorel Meleșcanu, President of the Senate, Ladies and gentlemen, deputies and senators, The Constitution envisaged the People's Advocate as the guarantor of the fundamental rights and freedoms, overseeing the relationship between administrative authorities and citizens, when the latter consider that their rights have been violated. The People's Advocate is, first and foremost, the voice of the voiceless, of the children, of those who are in centers where they no longer have freedom or their freedom is severely limited and cannot express themselves, be it psychiatric hospitals, centers for elderly persons, penitentiaries, centers for refugees, etc. In 2019, the institution proceeded ex-officio in 1749 cases and were conducted 429 investigations. In order to fulfill its constitutional role, the People's Advocate acts, despite its name, as a mediator, trying to find and propose solutions, either by bringing to the same table those involved, or by issuing recommendations and, based on these premises, appreciates the good collaboration we had, in many cases, with the administrative authorities, especially at the local level. The People's Advocate would have expected to be consulted by the initiators of the draft laws and ordinances, which, through the content of their regulations, concern the rights and freedoms of citizens. Thus, it would have been avoided the use the means of referral to the Constitutional Court, in order to rectify any regulations that the People's Advocate considered unconstitutional and, implicitly, the perception of its involvement in the disputes of political nature between State institutions. In this regard, the present Report contains several proposals for improving the legislative framework regarding the rights of citizens and their relations with public authorities. For the People’s Advocate it is of utmost importance to preserve its independence, as the Constitution itself provides, so that there is no possibility for the institution to be used by representatives of the political sphere, which would distort its role as defender of the fundamental human rights and freedoms. Ombudsperson, Renate Weber Bucharest, January 2020 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 5 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE INSTITUTION The department for The The department human rights, department for for the rights of equal the defense, The department youth, family, The department opportunities protection and for army, for property, pensioners, between men promotion of justice, police, labor, social people with and women, the rights of penitentiaries protection, disabilities religious cults the child taxes and fees and national minorities The department for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention (National Preventive Mechanism): Zonal Center Bucharest, Zonal Center Alba, Zonal Center Bacău, Zonal Center Craiova Territorial Offices: Alba-Iulia, Bacău, Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Financial, payroll and human Internal Public Constanța, Craiova, Galați, Iași, Oradea, resources bureau, Audit Pitești, Ploiești, Suceava, Târgu-Mureș, Timișoara Administrative bureau. The Service for constitutional litigation, appeal in the interest of the law, administrative and legal litigation, legal affairs, external relations and communication: the Bureau for constitutional litigation and appeal in the interest of the law, the Bureau for administrative and legal litigation, the Bureau for legal affairs, external relations and communication PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 6 OVERALL VOLUME OF ACTIVITY Complaints 10979 Hearings 7738 Recommendations 164 Phone calls 6205 Investigations: 429 - central headquarters 141 - territorial offices 288 ex-officio proceedings : 1749 - central headquarters 940 - territorial offices 809 Special Reports 3 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 7 Direct exceptions of unconstitutionality 12 Points of view sent to the Constitutional Court 189 Administrative litigation actions 6 NPM visits 79 Appeals in the interest of the law 2 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 8 COMPLAINTS REGISTERED IN RELATION TO THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS VIOLATED No. Constitutional rights Number of complaints 1. Equality of rights (Art. 16) 151 2. Foreigners and stateless persons (Art.18) 4 3. Right of asylum, extradition, expulsion (Art. 19) 2 4. Free access to justice (Art. 21) 2202 5. The right to life and to physical and mental integrity (Art. 22) 149 6. Individual freedom (Art. 23) 2 7. Right to defense (Art. 24) 1 8. The right to free movement (Art. 25) 5 9. The right to intimate, family and private life (Art. 26) 51 10. Inviolability of the domicile (Art. 27) 1 11. Freedom of conscience (Art. 29) 67 12. Freedom of expression (Art. 30) 4 13. Right to information (Art. 31) 964 14. Right to education (Art. 32) 33 15. Access to culture (Art. 33) 2 16. The right to health protection (Art. 34) 159 17. The right to a healthy environment (Art. 35) 117 18. The right to vote (Art. 36) 57 19. The right to be elected (Art. 37) 16 20. The right to be elected in the European Parliament (Art. 38) 5 21 Freedom of assembly (Art. 39) 3 22 The right to work and the social protection of work (Art. 41) 351 23. Right to strike (Art. 43) 1 24. The right to private property (Art. 44) 1054 25. Economic freedom (Art. 45) 5 26. The right to inheritance (art. 46) 8 27. The right to a decent standard of living (Art. 47) 739 28. Family and the right to marriage (Art. 48) 1 29. Protection of children and young people (Art. 49) 1021 30. Protection of persons with disabilities (Art. 50) 194 31. The right to petition (Art. 51) 1375 32. The right of a person aggrieved by a public authority (Art. 52) 637 33. Restriction on the exercise of certain rights or freedoms (Art. 53) 10 34. The fair distribution of the tax burden (Art. 56) 87 35. The right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the ECHR) 16 36. Other rights 1485 OVERALL TOTAL: 10,979 PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT 2019 9 177 3715 Complaints filed by women Complaints filed by men 7087 Complaints filed by legal entities Fair distribution of tax Equality of rights 1% The right to health care burdens 1% 1% Other rights 15% Free access to justice 20% Right to petition 13% Right to labor and social protection of labor 3% Right to vote 1% Right to private property 10% Right to information Protection of children 9% and young people 9% Freedom of conscience 1% Right of the person aggrieved Right to a decent standard of living 7% by a public Right