The 30^th anniversary of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in 2019 was an opportunity to take stock of the committee’s achievements. Since 1989, the CPT has carried out more than 450 visits to Council of Europe member states, conducting its fact-finding work in police stations, prisons, immigration detention centres, psychiatric establishments, social care homes and other locations where persons may be deprived of their liberty.

In 2019, the Ombudsman received 51,313 requests through the various channels available to citizens (6.6% more than in 2018), and 9823 complaint procedures were opened, representing an increase of 5% in relation to 2018. Compared with 2017, the growth in new complaint procedures is 26%; taking 2016 as a reference, the increase is 42%.

Following a peer review of the Catalan Ombudsman service carried out by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Rob Behrens, along with the Federal Ombudsman of Belgium, Catherine De Bruecker, Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó shares his fascinating experience on the PHSO podcast Radio Ombudsmann #17.

In 2019, the reform of local self-government and territorial organization of government continued in Ukraine. The process of forming the amalgamated territorial communities brought about the issue of the ability of local self-government bodies to ensure the observance, realization and protection of rights of citizens to social protection, healthcare, work, education and culture. Therefore, one of the strategic directions of the Commissioner’s activity was to exercise parliamentary oversight over the observance of social rights of citizens in the context of decentralization.

On June 23, in a videoconference mode, High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova met with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović.

The People's Advocate identified some problematic issues regarding the procedures followed and documentation drafted by the Local Authority of the Border and Migration in Tirana for the case of deportation of the Turkish citizen H.Çalik., therefore the People's Advocate recommended to the State Police to conduct a detailed analysis of them.

Le Défenseur des droits, qui a reçu plus de 103 000 réclamations en 2019, est un lieu d’observation privilégié non seulement des difficultés quotidiennes rencontrées par les usagères et usagers des administrations et des services publics, mais aussi des atteintes portées à leurs droits et libertés et des discriminations dont ils peuvent faire l’objet.

Two ministerial orders made during the COVID-19 pandemic by BC’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General went beyond the authority assigned to him under the Emergency Program Act and thus are contrary to law, an Ombudsperson investigation released today finds.