< /p>
50% of the reports of the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights are heard by public services, said the Commissioner, Maria Stylianou Lottidi at the session of the Finance Committee of the Parliament on the budget of her office for 2023.
Of the 2,500 or so complaints she received, she said, about 600 are outside her office's purview. Of the remaining complaints, he said, 70-80% are settled with individual interventions, letters and suggestions.
The problems, she continued, concern systemic issues and concern her office's reports. “We want to find practical solutions and ways for citizens to communicate with public services, to serve the various applications, mainly for benefits, so that the procedures are more efficient and less time-consuming”.
Mrs. Lottidi noted that over time 50% of the reports of her Office are implemented. Most complaints, he said, concern real estate and public services. However, in recent years, many complaints have also been submitted about benefits, delays in payment or rejections, such as for pensions, single parents' benefits, for people with reduced income, etc. Also, he noted, there are many complaints submitted every year about the services related to the Land Registry.
The budget
The budget of the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights for 2023 amounts to 2,410,615 euros, showing a slight increase of 13.70% (278,615 euros), compared to the 2022 budget (2,132,00 euros). As mentioned by Mrs. Lottidi, this small increase is due to the filling of five positions of the Office of the Administrative Commissioner. The largest part of the budget, of the order of 82.17%, concerns the payroll, related allowances and contributions to the various funds of the permanent employees and the hourly staff.
As mentioned in the session, in the Office of the Commissioner of Administration serve 26 Officers, 10 people as secretarial staff and 4 as hourly staff.
The operating costs of the Office amount to 11.83% (€285,250) and it was noted that the rent fund has been drastically reduced in recent years after intense and prolonged negotiation with the building owner, with the recent reduction on an annual basis reaching 29,099 euros (from 169,932 to 139,944 euros per year).
A total of 94% of the Office's budget is spent on payroll and operating costs and the remaining 6% on maintenance and repair costs of machines and equipment, costs of participation in conferences, subscriptions to international organizations, translation costs and costs for the purchase of loan equipment.
The Commissioner noted that on the basis of separate legislation she also has the responsibilities for the Agency for Equality and Combating Discrimination, the National Torture Prevention Mechanism, the National Independent Human Rights Authority, the National Independent Mechanism for the Promotion, Protection and Monitoring of the Implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Monitoring Mechanism for Forced Returns Procedures undocumented immigrants, the protection of the rights of economic immigrants.
Responding to the positions of MPs of the Finance Committee on unaccompanied refugee children, Mrs. Lottidi said that this issue does not fall under her competence.
For the contact with the Civil Society mentioned in the GANHRI report the Commissioner said that they should see not only organizations but also academics and other bodies that can give them guidance. The Advisory Committee has been established on our own initiative and has already started contacts, he added saying that they are already in contact with the organizations Cyprus Refugee Council, OPAK, SPAVO, MIGS, ACCEPT.
On the issue of female non-commissioned officers in National Guard, Ms. Lottidi explained the procedure that has been followed, where the issue is, she mentioned that the female non-commissioned officers will get a raise and a promotion and she said that they are not satisfied with this asking for high compensations that she is not sure that if the judicial process is followed street they will receive them.
