Ombudsman's Office of the Republic of Latvia

Logo of the organisation

Full name in English

Full name in national languages

Latvijas Republikas Tiesībsarga birojs

Postal address

Baznīcas iela 25 Rīgā, LV-1010 Latvia

Website

http://www.tiesibsargs.lv/en

Email

tiesibsargs@tiesibsargs.lv

Social media

Telephone number

+37167686768

Languages in which your institution can be contacted

Latvian, Russian, English

Head(s) of Equality body

Mr Juris Jansons

Person of contact for media enquiries

Ms Ruta Silina

kssn@tiesibsargs.lv, evita.berke@tiesibsargs.lv

Overview

Mandate

Institution

Overview

National human rights institution in Latvia. Institutionally and functionally independent. We ensure that our society in Latvia becomes more aware about human rights (including children rights) and their protection mechanisms, as well as about good governance.

Brief history

The activities of the Ombudsman are regulated by the Ombudsman Law, which was adopted by the Parliament (Saeima) on 6 April 2006 and Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Latvia was established in 2007.

The Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Latvia is an institutionally and functionally independent, wholesome, autonomous subject of public law that ensures operation of Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia within the scope of competence stipulated in the Ombudsman Law and other regulatory acts.

Since 16 March 2016 Mr. Juris Jansons is the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia for the second term.

Mandate

Sectors covered

Public

Legal standing before the courts

Representing victims of discrimination before the courts, Bringing proceedings in the name of the equality body [with or without an identifiable victim] but on behalf of one or more individual person(s) who consents to this.

Functions

Making legally binding decisions on claims of discrimination
Making recommendations on claims of discrimination [or other decisions on the merit that are not legally binding]
Undertaking ex-officio investigations
Organising training, advising and capacity-building activities for particular stakeholders on meeting their obligations
Organising awareness raising and communication activities
Advising government on the development, adoption and amendment of law and policy
Monitoring national law and policy from an equality perspective
Carrying out specialist research on equality and non-discrimination
Reporting to national and international bodies on discrimination issues

Fields and grounds

Fields	Grounds
Employment	Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status
Education	Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status
Housing	Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status
Social Protection & Healthcare	Gender, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status
Goods and Services	Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status

Other functions

Addressing hate crimes
Addressing hate speech
Addressing violence against women

Other mandates of the institution

Multi-mandate equality body

National human rights institution
Office of Ombudsman

Statistics

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Number of cases handled	69	54	45	45	49
Number of inquiries	9083	9937	8984	8577	8113
Number of litigation cases

Institution

Management and Appointments

Management

Single headed equality body (led by director or ombudsman/commissioner)

Ombudsman’s Office with the Ombudsman as its head has three legal divisions (children rights, civil and political rights; social, economic and cultural rights ), Administrative division and Communication division.

Procedure for nomination and appointment of management and board

Ombudsman is approved by theParliament of the Republic of Latvia (according to Ombudsman Law, Section 5). Nominations for Ombudsman are made by members of the Saeima. After nomination, members of the Saeima take a vote on the most appropriate candidate.

Other staffs are assigned by Ombudsman and other head positions, for example by Heads of Divisions (according to Labour Law and Ombudsman Law, Section 18).

If there is any other available position in Ombudsman’s Office, usually Office announces a vacancy. It is done with job advertisement (according to the Labour Law, Section 32) and information in our homepage. Advertisiment is published in “Latvijas Vēstnesis”, that is the official publisher of the Republic of Latvia. Advertisement is dated and after the final date, our human resources specialist (Assistant to the Ombudsman) starts job interviews (according to the Labour Law, Section 33). The candidate who is the most appropriate for the vacancy is hired for the work.

Regional or Local offices

This institution does not have regional officies.

Accountability

National Parliament

Number of staff

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Number of staff members working on equality							51

Operating budget

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Operating budget in euros [ACTUAL]					1538950
Operating budget in euros [ALLOCATED]	1168500	1359280	1374960	1498310	1541030	1570200
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ACTUAL]
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ALLOCATED]