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Ombudsman of Israel presents Annual Report
On June 30, 2020 the Ombudsman of Israel, Mr. Matanyahu Englman, submitted to the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) Annual Report 46 of the Office of the Ombudsman for the year 2019.
This is the first report presented by Mr. Englman in his capacity as Ombudsman during his tenure as State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel. Upon submission of the Report, the Ombudsman expressed his thanks to the Head of the Office of the Ombudsman, Dr. Esther Ben-Haim and to all of the employees for their excellent work.
- Read the "Summary of Activity in 2019" highlighting key points and setting forth selected complaints from Annual Report 46 of the Israel Ombudsman.
- Watch a video summarizing 2019.
Data on Complaints - 2019
In 2019 the Office of the Ombudsman received 14,263 complaints. The bodies which drew the highest number of complaints were the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the National Insurance Institute and the Postal Company. The overall percentage of justified complaints out of those where a final determination was made was 35.2%. A higher than average percentage of justified complaints was found respecting the Postal Company (73.5%), the Ministry of Health (69%), the Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Services (53%), the Ministry of Transport (43%) and the Tax Authority (41%).
Increasing the Ombudsman's Accessibility to the Public
One of the Ombudsman's priorities is increasing its accessibility to the public in general and to populations deserving special attention in particular. Some of the ways implemented to achieve this end are as follows:
Reception bureaus operate in different regions throughout Israel, especially in the social and geographical periphery, enabling people who have difficulty in using digital means (email and online forms) to file complaints in person. The reception bureaus' staff members speak several languages in addition to Hebrew, including Arabic, English, Russian, Amharic, French and Spanish, easing accessibility for non-Hebrew speakers and immigrants. The Office conducts informational activities and meetings with rights groups, schools, municipal social services agencies and cultural group representatives to raise awareness. Publicizing information in Arabic and Russian in networks, websites and media in the above languages serves to reach out to those populations. Distributing pamphlets in new formats and in several languages including Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian and Amharic, is a means used to raise awareness and educate the public about the Ombudsman's Office. A public "call" was issued, inviting organizations engaged in consumer and public rights advocacy to offer suggestions, receive assistance and seek ways to cooperate with the Office in helping the public with these matters.
The Office's Toolkit
The Report describes for the first time some of the innovative tools used by the Office to investigate complaints, such as the "undercover client" method, on-site inspection, mediation and accelerated investigation.
A Wide Perspective
When a large number of complaints are received about the same issue or when the investigation of a specific complaint reveals a general defect, the Ombudsman extends his intervention beyond granting aid to the individual complainants but also to rectifying the widespread defect on behalf of the public.
Source: Omdusman of Israel
