BackThe Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office has introduced an English Summary of the Annual Report of the activities of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania in 2013.
Article 3 of the Law on the Seimas Ombudsmen stipulates that the purpose of activities of the Seimas Ombudsmen shall be to protect a person’s right to good public administration securing human rights and freedoms, to supervise the fulfillment by state authorities of their duty to properly serve the people.
Since the beginning of 2014, the scope of activities of the Seimas Ombudsmen has been extended. The Seimas Ombudsmen also carry out the national prevention of torture at the places of detention according to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The number of complaints received by the Seimas Ombudsmen in 2013 reached record heights of the past seven years. In 2013, the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office received 2,897 complaints from natural and legal persons, of which 1,846 were new complaints.
Presenting the Annual Report to the Seimas, the head of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office A. Normantas emphasized that the highest percentage of justified complaints is observed among complaints received against the central Prison Hospital (57 complaints), which is in the fourth position according to received complaints.
Therefore, in 2013, the Seimas Ombudsmen issued 903 recommendations to the officials of the state and municipal institutions.
At the time of preparation of the Annual Report, it was already known that 91% of recommendations provided by the Seimas Ombudsmen had been taken into consideration.
Presenting the Annual Report to the Seimas, the Seimas Ombudsmen stressed that close attention was paid to the improvement of quality of complaint investigation in 2013.
“We aim to issue clear and legally justified recommendations both for complainants and institutions. The quality of legal argumentation is one of the most significant tools the Seimas Ombudsmen have,” - said Mr. A.Normantas by presenting the Annual Report to the Seimas.
Then the Head of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office said he would put all his efforts in order to achieve efficientcommunication with officials, especially with those against whom complaints were launched in order to raise their awareness of human rights and respect for human dignity.
Source: The Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office, Lithuania
