Public Defender of Rights

Brief history

The Public Defender of Rights has been a national equality body pursuant to the law and applicable directives of the European Union since 2009. The Act on the Public Defender of Rights stipulates: ‘The Defender shall contribute to promotion of the right to equal treatment of all persons regardless of their race or ethnic origin, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, belief or opinions.’

The Ombudsman provides a complex legal support and assistance to victims of discrimination. The Defender cooperates with a legal NGO providing pro bono help (www.probonoaliance.cz). The Defender cooperates with the inspection bodies. The Defender also holds educational events for the main stakeholders, experts, and general public. The Defender also publishes “Recommendations on non-discrimination”. The recommendations are focused on the public and address different phenomena related to discrimination. The Defender also conducts research on various anti-discrimination issues.

Mandate Type

Predominantly promotion-type and legal support body

Litigation power:

• Formally deciding on complaints (e.g. decision or recommendation addressed to the parties) Not legally binding
• Challenging bylaws before the Constitutional Court, Intervening as a party to the proceedings before Constitutional Court, Challenging decisions of administrative bodies before administrative courts

Activities

Our institution has a mandate to deal with:

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• Freedom of movement for workers
• National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), Monitoring of Forced Returns

Other statistics:

Other informations about the statistics

Number of inquiries covers only the national equality body mandate. Number of media appearances covers the whole mandate of the Public Defender of Rights.

Management

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

Management details

The Head of the Czech Equality Body is the Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsman). The Defender has its Deputy Defender. The Defender may delegate part of his/her mandate to the Deputy. The Defender’s tasks are carried out by the Office of the Public Defender of Rights.

Additional details

The Office of the Public Defender of Rights has in total 156 employees (approx. 100 legal officers). The protection against discrimination is ensured by the Department of Equal Treatment established within the Office. The Department has 15 employees (legal officers), some of them working part-time (recalculated number of employees is 13).

Procedure for nomination and appointment of management and board

The Ombudsman is elected by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Parliament. Two candidates are nominated by the President of the Republic and other two by the Senate. The term of office lasts six years. Two consecutive terms are possible.

Number of staff dealing with equality issues

Grounds and fields of discrimination covered by the equality body

The list of protected grounds is broader in other legal Acts (language, political opinion, national or social origin). The protection against discrimination is entrusted to administrative bodies (Labour Inspectorate, School Inspectorate etc.) and the Defender can open an inquiry when administrative bodies do not protect other grounds sufficiently.

Mandate covers:

• Public sector
• Private sector

Operating budget in euros

Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions)

We are accountable to

• National Parliament