Juliane Marie Centret, neonatal clinic of Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen University Hospital): for premature babies, children with congenital deformities etc., and children needing intensive treatment from the neonatal period and up to two years afterwards, and their parents 10 CASE NO. 16/02555 CASE NO. 16/00692 One of the Ombudsman’s legal case officers was on duty for 32 hours when he was monitoring the police’s forced deportation of an Afghan man. The journey went from Denmark via Istanbul to Kabul. But the Afghan authorities refused to accept the man, and he therefore had to travel back the same way. A housing association did not find it problematic that a neighbour was permitted to tear down his house and build a new one. But the tenants who lived closest to the neighbour did. They were of the opinion that the new adjoining house would block out the sunlight and also cause ’privacy concerns’. They were also dissatisfied because neither the municipality nor the regional state administration found that they had a right of appeal. The Ombudsman later concluded the case without criticism of the police. Each year, the Ombudsman monitors, fully or partially, 10 to 12 of the police’s forced deportations of foreign nationals who do not have legal residence in Denmark. Further information about the Ombudsman’s monitoring of deportations can be found on pages 108-112. CASE NO. 15/04474 After a home visit to a young man with autism, the municipality decided that he no longer needed 37 hours of socio-educational support each week, but only five. ‘Not with the best will in the world am I able to understand how suddenly overnight my son can get even close to being well’, his mother wrote to the Ombudsman. The mother herself had tried to explain to the municipality as well as to the National Social Appeals Board how things were with her son. But without success. The Ombudsman sent the mother’s complaint to the National Social Appeals Board in order for the Board to consider whether the case had been investigated adequately. The National Social Appeals Board then asked the municipality to reassess the case since the municipality had not examined the young man’s need for support sufficiently. In a number of cases, the Ombudsman tries to help a citizen by asking the authority to reassess the citizen’s enquiry. Sometimes, the Ombudsman asks to be informed of the authority’s reply to the citizen. However, in most cases he does not take any further action unless the citizen makes another enquiry. The Ombudsman could not help the tenants. Building projects are decided in accordance with the Building Act, and the Building Act considers the interests of houseowners, not tenants. The Ombudsman therefore agreed with the authorities that only the housing association, not the tenants, had a right of appeal. Anybody can complain to the Ombudsman, and there are no specific formal requirements: You can write a letter, send an e-mail or use the electronic complaints form on www.ombudsmanden.dk. CASE NO. 16/01689 For 22 years, a man had been driving a car without a valid driver’s license. He had not discovered the executive order from 1992 about the mandatory replacement of non-EU driver’s licenses. The police did not want to issue a new driver’s license until the man had passed a driving test. The man was of the opinion that he ought to be exempt from the driving test requirement because he had not been informed of the replacement of the non-EU driver’s licenses and because he had driven 15,000-16,000 kilometres annually in his car without problems. The Ombudsman found that he could not help the man. According to the rules, the man should have been aware that he needed to replace his driver’s license, and it made no difference that he had been driving without a valid driver’s license for all those years. The Ombudsman concluded the case without further investigation. If the Ombudsman finds that he cannot help in regard to a complaint, he may choose to conclude the case with a brief explanatory statement to the complainant.