Los defensores del pueblo autonómicos tras la reforma de los estatutos de autonomía

Résumé

The article examines the regulation on the autonomous-community ombudsman institutions introduced by the recently approved statutes of autonomy. The article focuses the analysis on three dimensions of the ombudsman: its competences, its institutional status and its relations with other institutions of the autonomous communities. In this sense, it states that the new statutes have sought to establish a clear normative definition about the scope and efficiency of the ombudsman as an institution for the protection of rights. On this subject, the article explores the new normative parameters on which the different ombudsmen will have to base their activity, in particular a series of rights for citizens (mostly social rights) included for the first time in some of the recently approved statutes of autonomy. The article finally concludes that to efficiently warranty the protection of these rights is one of the major challenges the autonomous-community ombudsmen will have to face.