Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček and Deputy Ombudsman Vít Alexander Schorm presented at a press conference yesterday how their office is preparing for a possible further expansion of its scope in the area of ​​human rights protection. In the last four years, the Ombudsman has used 38,25 million CZK from the Norway Grants project to enrich work on current agendas with a human rights impact with a number of research, reports, recommendations, and other activities aimed at experts and the general public. Thanks to the partnership with the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, the employees of the Ombudsman's Office gained experience with working methods typical of institutions with a broad mandate to protect human rights. They are already using them in their current work, and will use them primarily in the possible transformation of the public defender of rights into a so-called national human rights institution (NHRI) or in the establishment of a children's ombudsman. Both are envisaged in the upcoming amendment to the Public Defender of Rights Act, which is scheduled to be discussed by the Legislative Council of the Government on Thursday, February 29

An average of eleven employees, eight of whom were full-time, worked on the Norway Grants project at the Office of the Ombudsman from January 2020 to the end of 2023. They specialized in areas such as the protection of vulnerable children and their families, the promotion of equal treatment and protection against discrimination, or the prevention of mistreatment of people restricted in their freedom. The project also included, for example, testing the comprehensibility of official texts or preparing professional materials such as comments on draft legislation, notifications to the government, or statements for international organizations.

Practical outputs for the general public include, for example, guides for parents and employers regarding equal treatment in the labor market or recommendations on how employers should avoid discrimination in the workplace. People can also take e-learning courses on the basics of anti-discrimination law. Children, parents or teachers are provided with the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a child-friendly version and a series of videos on the ombudsman's powers.

As part of supporting children's rights, a children's conference was held at the Ombudsman's Office, and subsequently, secondary and primary school students in participation groups focused on thinking about changes in their schools, preparing projects to improve their surroundings, and discussing the right to privacy or the balance between individual rights.

At the workshops, the Public Defender of Rights shared findings with experts, for example from research on good practice in providing housing for vulnerable groups, the accessibility of buildings and services for people with disabilities, or the situation of workers from other European Union countries. Among the eight recommendations regarding the protection of children at risk and their families are, for example, how the prison service and social and legal child protection authorities could improve meetings and other contacts between children and their imprisoned parents. Other recommendations concern, for example, the search for temporary foster parents or increasing their remuneration.

The Public Defender of Rights also monitored how facilities where people are restricted in their personal freedom are implementing his previous recommendations. The Ombudsman's Office staff verified this in a total of twenty facilities of various types – prisons, police cells, psychiatric hospitals and facilities for foreigners, or children's homes.

„"The gradual expansion of the Ombudsman's powers to include human rights agendas has already brought about a shift in the past from helping specific complainants with their individual difficulties, for example in dealing with authorities, to monitoring general topics and striving for a systemic solution to shortcomings. Thanks to the project, we were able to test this approach intensively," explained Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček.

"I think we could have prepared well for other changes that would be brought about by the transformation of the Public Defender of Rights into a so-called national human rights institution (NHRI). One of them is the selection of topics that we will address. Last autumn, we organized an international roundtable with a Norwegian partner on the possible establishment of an NHRI in the Czech Republic. It was also repeatedly stated there that setting priorities is necessary for institutions with a broad mandate to protect human rights," recalled the Deputy Ombudsman Vít Alexander Schorm. According to him, long-term monitoring of selected areas is also no less important.

The Ombudsman has already put this method of work and prioritization to practical use when monitoring the implementation of the right to equal treatment for the past four years. The result is four monitoring reports summarizing developments in selected areas. These topics include the education of Roma, equal pay for men and women, and some procedural issues.

In these reports, the Ombudsman pointed out, for example, that outdated diagnostics may not correctly distinguish between innate intellectual abilities and environmental influences in Romani pupils. In his latest report, he therefore recommended to the Ministry of Education, among other things, that school counselling facilities should lead to more frequent use of modern diagnostic tools.

"Norway Grants have been supporting projects in the Czech Republic for twenty years. All programs and pre-defined projects are the result of bilateral negotiations between the Czech and Norwegian governments. I am very pleased that the project Strengthening the Activities of the Public Defender of Rights was supported during this period and contributed to improving the situation of some vulnerable and marginalized groups of the population, such as people with disabilities or prisoners," said Victor Conrad Rønneberg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway in Prague, in connection with the closure of the project.

He also appreciated that a national human rights institution (NHRI) could now be established in the Czech Republic thanks to the amendment to the Public Defender of Rights Act: "Most European Union countries already have an NHRI and it is a solid part of the rule of law - an independent observer and advisor to state administration bodies. I firmly believe that this will lead to further systematic improvements in the field of human rights, including in connection with current challenges such as migration from Ukraine, continued discrimination against Roma or the insufficiently resolved problem of domestic and sexual violence," added the Norwegian ambassador.

Brief statistics of the main project outputs 2020–2023

Issued:

• 20 reports from follow-up visits to facilities where people may be restricted in their personal freedom
• 8 recommendations for protecting vulnerable children and their families
• 4 monitoring reports on the implementation of the right to equal treatment in the areas of Roma education, equal pay for women and men, and certain procedural issues
• 4 recommendations in the area of ​​the right to equal treatment
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Easy Read Version
• Convention on the Rights of the Child - child-friendly text
• Flyer for children in correctional facilities or children´s homes
• Academic Article The establishment of a national human rights institution in the Czech Republic – what can be inspired by Norway?

Prepared:

• 37 special materials, such as legislative recommendations, comments and statements of the Public Defender of Rights
• 7 video blogs for children #AničkaVloguje on the powers of Ombudsman
• 6 moduls of e-learning Basics of anti-discrimination law
• 5 research studies in the field of equal treatment rights and follow-up workshops for experts and the public
• 4 internal training sessions for employees of the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the human rights and constitutional law perspective in the work of the Office of the Public Defender of Rights
• Roundtable on Clarity in Public Administration for Civil Servants, Judges and Other Experts
• The first Ombudsman's conference for children
• Meeting of three children's participation groups

Trained:

• 326 professional employees of facilities where people with restricted personal freedom are or may be located
• 506 social workers

 

An overview of project activities with links to individual outputs is available in the press release attachment or on the website: https://www.ochrance.cz/projekty/posileni-aktivit/ (CZ language only)

 

Source: Project press release Strengthening the activities of the Public Defender of Rights in the protection of human rights (towards the establishment of a National Human Rights Institution in the Czech Republic), project No. LP‑ PDP3-001.