BackThe English Summary of the Annual report 2012 by the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland has been published, compiling the most important observations concerning implementation of fundamental and human rights that were made in oversight of legality during the year.
Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen devoted his commentary article to dealing with investigations and explaining how the perspective has broadened in the Ombudsman's work. This work no longer consists only of after-the-fact oversight of the legality of an authority's action and issuing rebukes for unlawful procedures that have been followed. In addition to this, the Ombudsman's work has the nature of guiding the actions of officials and authorities, developing the legal state and promoting fundamental and human rights. Ombudsman Jääskeläinen believes that the perspective of developing the legal state and promoting fundamental and human rights will continue to strengthen in the Ombudsman's work.
2012 was in many ways an exceptional year in the Ombudsman's work. The numbers of complaints received, decisions issued and inspections conducted were all greater than ever before. The number of oversight-of-legality matters that were under investigation by the Ombudsman once again reached a new record last year; 4,723 cases were initiated, about 200 more than in the previous year. The number of oversight-of-legality matters in which decisions were issued likewise increased, to 5,002. This is nearly 300 more than in 2011. The average time taken to deal with an oversight-of-legality matter was 5.4 months at year end.
The greatest number of decisions on complaints and arising from investigations on the Ombudsman's own initiative related to matters in the social security category. The other big categories of cases were the police, health care and the prison service. The number of inspections, 147, last year was also a record and 25% more than in the previous year.
The English Summary of the Annual Report 2012 is available on the website of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Source: Parliamentary Ombudsman, Finland
