News from the Ombudsman’s Office: March 2024

News and events of the Ombudsman’s Office in March 2024 (information in links available in Latvian)

On accessibility of documents

From January this year, documents prepared in the Ombudsman’s Office are formatted in compliance with accessibility requirements for people with visual and perceptive limitations. This note will further on be included at the end of each official document sent by the Ombudsman.

Ombudsman’s 2023 annual report at the Parliament

On Thursday, 21 March, members of the Parliament (the Saeima) heard the Ombudsman’s report for 2023 containing key information on the progress in civil and political rights, social, economic and cultural rights, children’s rights, the National Preventive Mechanism, as well as the main developments in awareness raising and international cooperation.

Ombudsman’s survey marks a trend – the problem of entertainment noise exists

In a survey on inconvenience caused by entertainment noise, the Ombudsman received a total of 643 responses within three weeks. Overwhelmingly the vast majority reported about the city of Riga (69.7 %), followed by Bauska municipality, Liepāja and Jūrmala state cities, as well as Aizkraukle municipality.

Review of the conference “Human Rights as the New Fuel for Business”

The Ombudsman, Riga Graduate School of Law, and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia on 7 March organised conference on business and human rights “Human Rights as the New Fuel for Business”. The aim of the event was to jointly find explanations and get inspiration at the beginning of the upcoming path of change.

We invite students to report unwanted sexual behaviour in higher education

The Student Union of Latvia and the Ombudsman’s Office work together to encourage students to inform about cases when students have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour from the teaching personnel. The information submitted on the site “Vajag palīdzību (Need Help)” of the Student Union of Latvia will immediately be handed over to the Ombudsman’s Office, which will be involved in solving the issue.