Increased number of complaints about the work of the judiciary, the decline in the quality of public administration, discrimination of Roma and Albanians from the Ministry of Interior, hate speech, deterioration of conditions in correctional and detention facilities and inappropriate and unprofessional manage these institutions. These are just some of the comments that the Ombudsman Ixhet Memeti noted in his annual report.
Memeti says data on the numbers of people who complain to the Ombudsman are worrying.
Untimely and inefficient actions of police officers, an increasing number of complaints from citizens about the manner and conditions in employment procedures are noticed as well. Memeti noted that late fees are paid cash, and the Ministry of Health was hampering the work of the Ombudsman.
Regarding the election, the Ombudsman found inaccurate and inconsistent legislation, which leads to problems in the implementation of the electoral process, and the State Election Commission late and inferiorly updated data from the voter list. The misalignment of the special general election lists is also noted.
– There are authorities who persistently hinder the work of the Ombudsman. Ministry of Interior is sending us only formal responses, and it prevents us to do our job. If you look at the previous report, you will see that last year we noted that the HIF and the Ministry of Health slowly responding to requests from citizens. And this year, a child died because of that. There is a case in which the date of filing passed four years ago, and citizens yet haven’t received an answer to if they have or haven’t a rare disease – said Memeti.
Last year, the Ombudsman received a total of 4249 complaints from 4331 applicants. In the office in Skopje arrived 2365, in Bitola 490 and in Tetovo 347 complaints.
The number of items, unlike in 2013, increased by 400 cases. Citizens mainly complained of justice, consumer rights, finance and customs, labor relations, social security, prisons.
Of the complaints, 1278 violations were found, of which in 1114, intervention of the Ombudsman was accepted, and in 72 cases, although all legal possibilities were used, the Ombudsman was not able to help the citizens.
The report said the Ministry of Interior, municipalities, correctional and detention facilities, the State Commission for administrative decisions in the course of employment in the second degree and the Ministry of Finance did not act according to the remarks of the Ombudsman.
When asked, the Ombudsman said that he already sent questions to the Ministry of Interior, the Security and Intelligence, the Parliamentary Commission and other institutions regarding the wiretapping, but that he has not yet received any response.
– On my own initiative, I instigated proceedings for wiretapping and at the beginning I said that it is a massive violation of human rights – said Memeti.
