The Ombudsman’s Role in Protecting the Rights of Refugees and Irregular Migrants – Poland’s Experience in Comparison to Sweden and Greece Law and Practice

Abstract

The article analyzes actions taken by the Polish, Swedish and Greek Ombudsmen to protect fundamental rights of persons seeking international protection and irregular migrants, which is of particular importance in the context of the ongoing migration crisis and the war in Ukraine. Research theses presented here state that the Ombudsman is an institution that fills the lacunae in legal protection exercised by courts and administrative bodies of the Member States and that the existing procedural standards of protection of migrants’ rights are not effective in practice and require strengthening. The article proposes a 4-pillar model of the Ombudsman’s conduct, which involves dealing with individual complaints (1st), systemic actions to combat maladministration (2nd), activities for the “domestication” of international law (3rd), as well as advocacy and soft competences supporting the civil society (4th). The methodology used includes investigation of the law in force, legal comparison and, to some extent, the statistical method and the analysis of non-legal sources.