23 Kirsten Talevski Head of 1st Division COMPLAINT CASES REVEAL SYSTEM ERRORS The core area of the Ombudsman’s activities is the processing of complaint cases lodged by citizens. In 2010, we received more than 4,800 complaint cases. The cases we are asked to consider normally concern the complainant’s own problems. However, during our processing we also consider whether some of the issues are of a more general nature and may reveal system errors – in other words, other citizens may experience the same problems. If that is the case, it is an important part of the Ombudsman’s work to use the citizen’s complaint as a lever for more general improvement of the case processing by the public administration. Three cases processed by the Ombudsman within the last couple of years are good examples of specific complaints revealing general problems in the public administration. Common to all cases was that the citizens did not receive replies from the authorities; the cases came to a standstill. The reasons differed, but the problems were resolved – for the benefit of other citizens, too. All three cases involved the immigration authorities, but it could equally well have been other authorities. THE COMPLAINT CASE THAT CAME TO A STANDSTILL In December 2008, the Immigration Service refused family reunification between a man and his wife from Morocco. It would not accept their marriage as valid in Denmark on the grounds that the wife had not been present at the ceremony. The man found this argument completely unreasonable and lodged an appeal with the Ministry of Integration in February 2009. His complaint was accompanied by a translation of the marriage certificate. The certificate showed that both he and his wife were present at the ceremony. The Ministry entered the case and in March 2009 asked the Immigration Service for a statement.