Ombudsman Akademik

Öz

Social security is a powerful balance point of the possibility to live with human dignity in our age of deepening inequalities. Ombuds have a critical function in the protection of this balance with a rights-based approach. Where the ombud system stands in the face of contradictions in production and distribution relations and in the protection of the right to social security is an important question for Türkiye. In fact, the answer to this question contains critical clues as to where the individual-state relationship is actually established in Türkiye, which has an economic policy ideal based on human rights and social justice. In this context, the study analyses the applications made to the Ombud Institution of Türkiye with a focus on the right to social security, the decisions taken and the functionality of these decisions. The findings reveal that the number of applications made on the basis of the right to social security is relatively high, the decisions taken are guiding in providing administrative justice, but their impact is limited to the will of public institutions to comply with the decisions taken against them. This is because the ombud’s decisions are advisory in nature and when the administration does not comply with the recommendation, administrative remedies are largely exhausted for people whose right to social security is violated. This leads to duplicate applications against the same administrations on similar issues, which casts a shadow on the functionality of the ombud mechanism. The aim of the study is to present an up-to-date approach to the steps that need to be taken from today to tomorrow in a multi-layered area of rights such as social security, in order to improve and develop this functionality.