Investigating human rights Police - handling allegations of abuse In the Annual Report 2015, the AOB criticised the Federal Ministry of the Interior for taking almost no action to implement the concept of an independent complaints and investigation office, described by the former Human Rights Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of the Interior in its report “Independent external complaints office for allegations of abuse against police officers – a visionary concept or an unnecessary institution?” (see Annual Report 2015, p. 67 et seq.). New decree on allegations of abuse in progress In the project “Police.Power.Human Rights”, the Federal Ministry of the Interior discussed a draft decree, which would regulate how the police should handle allegations of abuse. The AOB was invited to several meetings on various topics relating to this project. Finally, the Federal Ministry of the Interior stated that a new decree, which is being coordinated with the Federal Ministry of Justice, would contain appropriate procedures for cases of alleged abuse. 2.2.6 Judiciary Legal guardianship As of the editorial close for this report, an amendment to the legal guardianship law, in the form of a draft of the 2nd Adult Protection Law, was already the subject of parliamentary deliberations. The AOB would like to take this opportunity to express its appreciation for the exemplary manner in which the draft law was developed, i.e. it was also developed with the cooperation of self-advocates, in the spirit of the UN CRPD. The AOB hopes that there will be no basis for a high number of complaints once the Adult Protection Law takes effect. In the 2016 reporting period, 239 complaints were filed with the AOB from all over Austria in connection with legal guardianships. These complaints were either made to the AOB in person on consultation days or in written form. In addition, the AOB received many telephone enquiries regarding legal guardianship, where there were no written submissions after information regarding the tasks and mandate of the AOB was provided. Thus far, the main complainants to the AOB have been the affected persons themselves or their close relatives. The problems reported were comparable to those in previous years. Predominantly, criticisms were aimed at the legal guardianship itself and the low influence of family members when professional legal guardians are appointed. Many persons complained that not enough money was provided, even when high income, pensions and savings were 70