Aishira Cicilia
PHILIPSBURG--The Ombudsman Bureau handled a total of 341 complaints in 2022, 37 of which resulted in a report, Legal Advisor Aishira Cicilia told Members of Parliament (MPs) during a meeting last week.
The meeting was about the Ombudsman’s 2022 year report.
General complaints/Information Windows (IW)
According to Cicilia, a total of 304 general complaints were received. When broken down into different categories the most complaints concerned the topics: civil cases, labour dispute (27) and police (26); followed by immigration (25). There were 20 inquiries/complaints regarding tax assessments and rental disputes and Domain Affairs (16) also garnered much attention from the public. Cicilia said general complaints can range from not knowing where to go with an issue and therefore being referred to the relevant institution. Persons also go to the Ombudsman with questions and when there is a communication breakdown between government and complainant, requiring some form of intervention from the Ombudsman.
Reports
In 2022, a total of 37 complaints led to a report by the Ombudsman. The various ministries accounted for 35 investigations and private entities with public authority (“zelfstandig besturrsorgaan” ZBOs) accounted for two. The significant decrease in the number of complaints for the ministries compared to last year can be attributed to the increase in complaints against the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI with regard to the Over the Bank systemic investigation, Cicilia said.
The Ministry of VROMI accumulated the most investigations in 2022 with nine, followed by the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) with eight and the Ministry of Justice with seven investigations.
Of the nine investigations into the conduct of the Ministry of VROMI, six were for the account Domain Affairs, two for the Inspectorate and one for the Permits Department. “Despite meetings and agreements to respond to complaints, the Ombudsman continues to observe minimum response to complainants, as well as the investigations of the Ombudsman from this ministry. The Ombudsman has been reiterating her concern about this ministry’s ability to serve the public due the existing structural deficiencies since the year report of 2018,” stated Cicilia. “It must be noted that anno 2022, these expressed concerns remain the same. Despite the appointment of a complaint liaison to deal with the backlog, the Ombudsman was forced to close most of the ministry’s cases without a (substantive) response from the ministry,” she added
The Ministry of TEATT accumulated the second highest number of investigations with eight. Four investigations were attributed to the Inspectorate, three for the Department of Economic Licences and one for the account of the minister.
The Ombudsman noted an increase in complaints concerning hindrances, namely due to smell and/or noise of in particular garages. Because of these complaints and in an effort to more efficiently address the matter, the Ombudsman held two inter-ministerial meetings with the relevant departments of the Ministries of VROMI, TEATT and Justice. The meetings, Cicilia said, were successful insofar as areas where the ministries could improve cooperation were identified, overlapping policies could be streamlined and proper competencies could be established. Most complaints were able to be resolved; one complaint is still ongoing. The Ombudsman will continue to employ this manner of addressing inter-ministerial challenges where possible.
The Ministry of Justice accounted for seven investigations, placing this ministry as the third highest. Three investigations were for the account of Immigration and Border Protection Services and one investigation each was attributed to the minister (Human Resource case), Prosecutor’s Office and Police Force of St. Maarten KPSM. “The Ombudsman continues to observe and remains concerned about the functioning of the Immigration Department, the application of proper standards in policies and in individual circumstances and the functioning of KPSM in relation to the public. However, recognition must be given to this ministry’s effort to address these matters by responding to investigations of the Ombudsman, being open for critical feedback and attempts made to address the structural issues,” stated Cicilia.
She said in late 2022 the Ombudsman took notice of a Pilot Project between the Ministries of Justice, of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA and TEATT to grant undocumented workers the ability to obtain legal work permits. The Ombudsman requested and emphasised the need for a proper published policy to regulate the execution of the policy. While the Ombudsman received a draft policy from the ministry, the Ombudsman did not observe a policy ever being published.
Closed cases
Of the 37 reports in 2022, 18 were closed by the end of 2022. Of the 18, 16 were closed in the intervention stage, meaning that a (comprehensive) response was provided by the administrative body within the allotted time frame, meaning that the Ombudsman was able to handle and close the case without a full investigation. Resolving a complaint within the intervention stage shows a level of proactiveness on the side of government, said Cicilia.
The Ombudsman further closed 20 cases from 2021, including two systemic investigations namely the Over the Bank and garbage waste collection investigations, nine cases from 2020 and respectively eight and two cases from 2019 and 2018 in 2022. This brings the total to 39 cases closed from the period 2018-2021. “About 65% of these cases closed concerned the Ministry of VROMI and (as stated) most were closed without substantive response from the ministry. Together with the 18 cases closed in 2022, brings the total of closed cases in 2022 to 57. At the end of 2022 there were 45 cases open from the years 2019-2022.”
Investigation topics
The Ombudsman issued eight reports that concerned complaints by civil servants regarding a Human Resource matter. These investigations spanned four ministries whereby five were for the account of the Ministry of Finance. In this regard, the Ombudsman emphasises the need for increased awareness of rights and responsibilities among the civil service, including management. The Ombudsman requests awareness and attention for the use of policy and understanding of individual circumstances to avoid disproportional decision-making. The Ombudsman also investigated concerns regarding noise pollution. The Ombudsman notes a need for clear policy and enforcement resources with room for consideration of individual circumstances and transparent objection procedures.
Violated standards
Cicilia said the standard of promptness is the highest violated standard, and is a consequence of insufficient information provision and inadequate organisation of government services, resulting in the inability to provide a response within a legal or reasonable time frame. “Secondly, the ability to adequately serve the public is contingent on an efficient and capable workflow and civil service. This includes management and leadership training, hiring and providing refresher courses and retraining of the existing civil service (capacity building), adequate and fair application of HR procedures, and a clear workflow with division of tasks including adaptation for absence/sick leave, etc.”
She said the third highest violated standard is that of active and adequate information provision. Cicilia said the Ombudsman reiterated the need for a proactive approach to providing relevant, accurate and adequate information to the public and parties in concrete cases.
Recommendations
Article 16, paragraph six, of the National Ordinance on the Ombudsman stipulates that the Ombudsman can provide administrative bodies with recommendations to take (corrective) measures. The total number of recommendations issued by the Ombudsman for 2022 was 80.
