BackOn 6 April, Ombudswoman María Luisa Cava de Llano accompanied by her deputy, Manuel Aguilar, submitted their official annual report to the Presidents of the Congress and Senate, José Bono and Javier Rojo.
Last year the Ombudsman office, headed by María Luisa Cava de Llano, received 34.674 letters of enquiry, whereas in 2009 they amounted to 22.287. This implies an increase by 55.58% which results above all from the rise of collective complaints jumping from 3.626 in 2009 to 17.449 in 2010. Individual complaints, on the other hand, surged to 16.759.
Another sharp increase was registered with regard to ex officio investigations which amounted to 446 cases compared to 269 in 2009 and is grounded in the introduction of the 'MNP', the National Mechanism of Prevention. Above all this instrument provides for preventive supervisory visits to detention centres and prisons throughout the national territory. It is precisely due to its preventative and not reactive nature that such investigations are conducted of the Ombuds institution's own motion. Hence, the MNP accounts for 211 initiatives out of 255 ex officio investigations of various public administrative authorities.
An English summary of the report will be available later this year under the following link:
http://www.defensordelpueblo.es/en/Documentacion/Opcion3/index.html
Source: http://www.defensordelpueblo.es/es/Prensa/Notas/contenido_1302089991476.html
