The trend of an increasing number of complaints filed with the State’s Ombudsman’s Office continues – during the past three years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of justified complaints – 72% of the complaints received against the Israel Postal Authority have been found to be legitimate.

The State Comptroller’s Officer together with the State Ombudsman’s Office released the annual report addressing public complaints. In 2018, the ombudsman received 14,461 complaints, of which 13,617 were leveled against a number of institutions, and 844 complaints were received against institutions which the ombudsman is not authorized to deal with. The upward trend in the number of complaints filed continues to increase in recent years by about 7% annually, reaching a new high in 2018.

43% of the complaints addressed by the ombudsman were handled to the satisfaction of the complainant regardless if the complaint was deemed legitimate or not. The overall percentage of justified complaints received in 2018 stands at 35.34%, a number that is viewed as extremely high for a civilized nation.

Standing out in 2018 were the Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety, receiving the most complaints. The number of complaints against the licensing office of the ministry has increased by an astonishing 75% as compared to 2017.

As stated, the ombudsman’s functions include the protection of human rights in general and the rights of the weaker sectors of society in particular. The report details many cases in which the ombudsman assisted in protecting the basic rights of complainants, including the right to dignity and liberty, the right to equality and the right to privacy. In 2018, complaints regarding specific populations were highlighted in the report, and in this framework, complaints were concentrated in various and varied areas in four sections:

Complaints concerning persons with disabilities.
Complaints about senior citizens – The data indicate that citizens over the age of 65 are aware of their rights, and their complaints to Bituach Leumi are almost double their rate in the population.

Complaints regarding women – in the report there are many complaints regarding pregnancy and childbirth (financing of examinations, receipt of pregnancy benefits and maternity leave).

Complaints about the rigidity of handling requests for tuition fees for children of working mothers.

In the areas of housing and population, pensions, education and welfare, the proportion of complaints by women is higher than that of men.

Regarding the rest of the complaints, the proportion of complaints by women (39%) is lower than that of men.

There were 1,101 complaints against Bituach Leumi, 864 against the postal service, 826 against the Ministry of Transportation, 701 against Israel Police, 546 against the Immigration Authority, 503 against the Health Ministry, 499 against the Justice Ministry, 378 against the Education Ministry, 355 against the Tax Authority and 351 against the Housing Ministry.

The percentage of justified complaints:
49.7% of complaints against the Ministry of Transportation were deemed justifiable. Other numbers include 61.1% against the Health Ministry, 72.7% against the postal service, 45.3% against the Ministry of Welfare, 41.2% against the Tax Authority and 40.1% against the Education Ministry.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: State Comptroller’s Office)