The acting Ombudsman of Spain, Francisco Fernández Marugán, has intervened in the Senate Plenary to present the Annual Report of the Institution for 2017.
Fernández Marugán has exposed the work done by the institution of the Ombudsman and has demanded an advance in the social protection of the most vulnerable groups. Thus, he assured that “the current situation of inequality is threatening to achieve a healthy and sustained growth that can only be achieved by carrying out an active policy, decided and maintained in the time of redistribution of income.” In 2017, the Institution processed 25,776 files and made 2,338 resolutions to the administrations.
During his speech, the Ombudsman asked that the reception of immigrants be addressed, creating suitable infrastructures and improving collaboration among all the public administrations involved.
Fernández Marugán stressed that in 2017, after visiting the facilities and centers that Spain has from Tarifa to Cartagena, the institution that directs formulated a series of proposals to serve people who arrived in small boats.
The Ombudsman stressed that in Africa there is an “expulsion effect” in countries where “unbearable living conditions exist”, so “it is logical that they want to come to this part of the world to try to have an decent life,” he remarked.
In his opinion, to face this situation “is not only with border control, a very important piece, but not the only one”. Fernández Marugán considers that it is necessary “political will, an endowment of sufficient resources, an essential institutional and social collaboration and certain legislative changes”.
Guaranteeing the defense of the rights of unaccompanied foreign minors has always been a priority for the Ombudsman. Fernández Marugán has said that “they are children before they are foreigners” and has demanded that foster care system be provided for these minors with sufficient resources to prolong their protection once they reach the age of 18. In this sense, the Ombudsman recalled that the design of these reception systems and individualized programs should be addressed through models of cooperation between different public administrations.
The Ombudsman made clear, once again, his concern about the problems that affect women. Hence, he warned that progress is being made “very slowly” to end the wage gap between men and women. He has also reiterated his condemnation of the male violence that since 2003 has left more than a thousand women dead and that each year leaves many orphans.
The rights of the elderly are also constant in the work of the Institution. The Ombudsman considers it urgent to adapt the social system to give an adequate response to the challenges posed by an increasingly aging society. As he explained, “we must review the guidelines for action in social care to offer the help needed by seniors and their families and try a model in which seniors can stay as long as possible in their surroundings”.
On the other hand, Fernández Marugán has once again insisted on the need to review the current pharmaceutical co-payment model to extend the protection of vulnerable groups and ensure that these people can access the medicines they need. “Today, the percentages of contributions for Social Security pensioners and their beneficiaries are excessive and harm many patients in vulnerable situations,” he said.
He has also warned about the situation of unwanted loneliness in which many older people live and has indicated that “we are missing an accurate insight of the scope of this problem” that some sources place in the million and a half people affected. Therefore, he stressed, “it is essential to open a political and social debate” on this issue.
In this hearing the Ombudsman also wanted to draw attention to the problems of Spanish prisons. Fernández Marugán says that the main health problem in them is mental illness. In this sense, he has called attention to the absence of psychiatric service in many prisons and has requested an adequate network of therapeutic and assistance resources to care for inmates.
The Ombudsman also explained that the complaints received show that we have gone from a situation in which the construction of new prison facilities were demanded to another, in which the challenge is now to adapt the personnel structures into ones that are focused on the needs of treatment of a more reduced number of inmates.
Finally, Fernández Marugán considers it essential to improve the situation of female inmates in prisons with an active policy of positive treatment that offers them new opportunities in the personal, labor, and penitentiary service areas.
The Ombudsman concluded his speech with the topic of housing, one of the main concerns Spaniards possessed in 2017. Fernández Marugán has stressed that the main problem in this area are the high sale prices and the low number of homes for rent.
The way things are has ensured that the rise experienced by the price of rent makes this type of housing inaccessible to many people, especially for young people. In addition, as he explained, the level of public spending allocated to aid for access to housing is low and the availability of social housing by territorial administrations is scarce.
Faced with this situation, the Ombudsman has claimed that administrations should urgently develop “a public offer in favor of social rent so that young people can emancipate themselves and build their own and autonomous life project”.
