4.4. NATIONAL MINORITY RIGHTS STATISTICS In the field of national minority rights, the Protector of Citizens in 2019 handled 71 cases98, of which there were 70 citizen complaints and one case initiated upon own initiative. The cases in this field make 2.17 percent of the total number of handled cases. The Protector of Citizens issued 24 recommendations to administrative authorities which are still within the execution deadline. Of 171 handled cases in 2019, the Protector of Citizens completed the work on 39 cases. Table 28 – The overview of cases handled in 2018 Number of received cases in 2019 Number of closed cases in 2019 Number of ongoing cases in 2019 71 39 32 Table 29 - Review of issued recommendations in 2019 Number of issued recommendations 24 Number of due recommendations 0 Number of accepted recommendations 0 In 2019, the work was completed also in 19 cases from previous years. The manners of completion of cases from 2019 are presented in the following table. Table 30 – The outcome actions upon completed cases in 2019 Informed and advised complainant Inadmissible complaints –Incompetence Unfounded complaints Inadmissible complaints –Formally deficient complaint Withdrawal of the complainant Inadmissible complaints –Unused legal remedies Cases closed by recommendations from oversight procedure Cases closed by recommendations from the expedited oversight procedure Statement of Protector of Citizens Total number percentage 17 43.59% 15.38% 6 6 15.38% 3 7.69% 2 5.13% 2 5.13% 1 2.56% 1 2.56% 1 39 2.56% 100% The greatest number of received complaints is rejected by the Protector of Citizens because the legally prescribed conditions for acting upon them are not fulfilled. The complaints are rejected due to incompetence, untimeliness, prematurity, anonymity and formal deficiency. In 72.73 percent of rejected cases in this field the Protector of Citizens refers the complainant to the competent body or advises them on available legal remedies. The case refers to the cases emerged from the actions upon complaints and own initiatives in individual area/department. 98 - 61 -