Austrian Ombudsman Board presents Anuual Report 2010
“In 2010 the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) took care of the requests of more than 15 000 people, and 6 600 investigation procedures were initiated to control administrative decisions. In more than 17 percent of all investigation procedures the AOB confirmed a case of maladministration," AOB Chair Peter Kostelka summarised last year’s activities on the occasion of the annual report presentation on 28 April in Vienna. An international version of the annual report in English highlighting human rights related cases will be published in June 2011.
A total of 15 265 people turned with their concerns to the AOB. Compared to the already high figures for previous years, this means a renewed increase. The number of those cases in which people concretely complained about the behaviour of an administrative body rose significantly by more than eight percent to 11 198 (2009: 10.320).
The AOB initiated a total of 6613 investigation procedures, in 17.3 percent of which the AOB confirmed a case of maladministration. In comparison to last year this constitutes an increase of six per cent (2009: 6235). In 59.1 per cent of all complaints about authorities, the AOB initiated an investigation procedure. Just over 4,000 cases did not fall within the AOB mandate, in these cases AOB experts gave legal advice and additional information to the complainants.
Overall, 7949 investigation procedures could be completed – this is an increase of 15 percent in comparison to last year. On average, an investigation procedure lasted 46 days in 2010.
Communication is an essential part of the daily work of the AOB: 7,600 people contacted the AOB in person or by telephone to obtain information or to complain about a public authority. About 15,000 letters and e-mails reached the AOB. The correspondence with people, who suspected a case of maladministration in the administration, amounted to more than 25,000 documents.
Consultation days held by the three members in all nine Austrian Laender are traditionally very popular. Due to the high demand, the offer was massively expanded in 2010, and 273 consultation days were offered. Consultation days were not only held in district administrative offices or Laender government premises, but also in prisons, police detention centers and army barracks.
Overall, the AOB carried out 4125 investigation procedures in the Federal administration. As in previous years most complaints and investigation procedures concerned social affairs for which Ombudsman Peter Kostelka is competent in the AOB. A particularly huge number of people contacted the AOB because of deficiencies in the care allowance classification, problems with the pension scheme or complaints about unemployment benefits.
A total of 708 complaints about the judiciary were directed to the competent AOB member Gertrude Brinek. Accordingly, 17 percent of all investigation procedures took place in this domain, thus constituting for the second year in a row a certain decline. The AOB mandate in this field covers the areas of judicial administration, public prosecutors, the prison system and the examination of procedural delays. A large proportion of complaints referred in 2010, however, to rulings of independent Courts for which the AOB is not competent.
The competent AOB member Terezija Stoisits received 781 complaints in the area of internal security. This represents a significant increase by more than 60 percent (2009: 474). The main reason is, as in past years, the number of alien and asylum law related complaints. This concerned not only the Ministry of the Interior and its subordinate authorities, but also the Asylum Court and the Independent Federal Asylum Senate.