Unnecessary delays, especially in court proceedings, have repeatedly been the most common problem of violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms in the country, stated Ombudswoman Mária Patakyová in her the report for 2019 to the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee. According to her, the justice system is not effective and functional enough. Patakyová said that this does not have to be only due to the failure of an individual judge but also a result of the insufficient number of people working in courts. Moreover, the Ombudswoman pointed to problems in the proceedings of the state social insurance company and restitution proceedings.
The Ombudsman's Office found 130 violations of fundamental rights and freedoms last year. It focused on the inspections of facilities for the elderly, the process of national adoptions and the functioning of the business register and protecting children as victims of crime. She also intervened in the case of the procedure of the Office for Personal Data Protection, which asked investigative journalists to disclose a source under the threat of a high financial sanction.
Moreover, based on the findings of her report, Patakyová said that the processing of applications by the Slovak Foreign Police is problematic. The results of the survey should be published in the first half of this year.
