The empowerment of the ombudsman system

The concept of an ombudsman originates from a Swedish system of checks and balances. The first ombudsman, the Parliamentary Ombudsman (Justitieombudsmannen, JO), was established in 1809. Both the name and the system have diffused to other parts of the world and have been adapted to other political realms. The word ombudsman has become, much like the term smorgasbord, a recognized Swedish word in the international vocabulary.

The ombudsman was originally created to empower the parliament with means to control the compliance of all judges, civil servants and military officers to the law. These ombudsmen are elected by parliament, but they enjoy full autonomy from their electors. The parliament has no right to issue directives or decide which cases the JO should investigate. In the spirit of the ombudsman concept, the JO itself is checked by one of the standing parliamentary committees. The mass media may also be said to exercise control over the JO, since they often take up controversial cases for debate. At present, the main duty of the JO is to supervise all central and local members of parliament and directly elected local officials.

Individuals who feel mistreated by government bodies or agencies may submit written complaints to the JO, and the office receives about 5,000 such complaints each year. Everyone is entitled to submit complaints, you do not even have to be a Swedish citizen, nor are you obliged to write in Swedish. The JO decides independently which cases to investigate further, and usually concentrates on those that significantly involve an unjust balance between the claims of the community and the freedom of the individual.

The JO inspects authorities under their supervision, and the office also pursues long-term investigations, such as the review of laws and law-enforcement. The JO has another important task, of serving as special prosecutor in cases concerning breach of duty in public administration, and the JO can also initiate disciplinary precedings in these cases. During any year there are only a handful of cases like this, but they do symbolize the actual weight and authority of the JO institution.

Apart from the JO, there are several other ombudsmen, assigned to handle cases of various kinds. For instance, there is a Consumer Ombudsman (Konsumentombudsmannen, KO), established in 1971 and with the duty of protecting the rights of consumers. In 1980, the same year as the Act Concerning Equality between Men and Women at Work came into force, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman (Jamstalldhetsombudsmannen, JamO), was established.

The JamO has two major tasks, deriving from the above- mentioned act: conduct active measures to create gender equality in the workplace and ensure that companies and public offices comply with the ban on sex discrimination. It is not only discrimination on gender-basis that is surveyed by ombudsmen. The Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (Ombudsmannen mot etnisk diskriminering, DO), works to combat ethnic discrimination in working life and other spheres of social life.

Ethnic discrimination is defined here as when a person or group of persons is treated unfairly or is subjected to unjust or insulting treatment because of race, skin color, national or ethnic origin or religious faith. Two other ombudsmen are the Children's Ombudsmen (Barnombudsmannen, BO) and the Office of the Disability Ombudsman.

The Press Ombudsman (Allmanhetens Pressombudsman, PO) is of a different nature than the others. The institution is not formally based on legislation but instead entirely on voluntariness. It is a self-disciplinary system created by the press for the press, and it is financed by the three press organizations that together founded the Swedish Press Council in 1916. The Press Council previously handled cases concerning violations of good newspaper practices, before the Press Ombudsman was established in 1969.

Complaints can be filed by individuals or initiated by the PO itself. Anyone can submit a complaint to the PO concerning newspaper items, but the person to whom the article relates must provide consent if the case is to result in censure of the newspaper. Filing a complaint to the PO is free of charge, and the office also answers questions from the public on matters of press ethics. If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the PO's investigation, there is nothing hindering him or her from taking the case to a regular court of law.

The Swedish system of ombudsmen has been put into place in order to ensure the protection of individual rights in dealings with authorities. It is also a tool in developing the performance of public administration. Government agencies are aware that the ombudsmen supervise their practices, a fact that hopefully creates an atmosphere of good governance.

A case for the Parliamentary Ombudsman

An example of what kind of cases are submitted to the JO is the one concerning police action during a smaller city disturbance. An individual caught in a quarrel between the police and a group of street-festival visitors strongly felt that the police handled the situation wrongly and exposed the people present to great dangers.

The troubles originated in a street festival that attracted some unwanted elements of the capital. The police judged the situation as potentially dangerous and sealed off the area and, according to the submitter, forced the people to squeeze together in a very limited space.

The troublemakers, visitors to the festival and surprised passersby were held together in this way for several hours, posing dangers to both them within the crowd as well as to residents living in the area who could not exit their homes.

The complaint was submitted to the JO the day after the incident. This case however, was handed over to the District Attorney's Office. This is the prerogative of the JO, to channel cases to other authorities. The case is, at the moment, under investigation at the District Attorney's Office.