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If the Ombudsman considers acomplaint to be substantiated, the problem may get rectified,
oranOmbudsman report ispublished making recommendations for remedy. Further
claims depend on the relative domestic law, but this typically includes financial
compensation. Currently, Ombudsmen in most countries do not have the power to initiatecourt
proceedings or prosecution onthe basis ofthe complaint.
The major benefit ofanOmbudsman is that he or she investigates complaints from outside
the infringing state institution, thus avoiding the conflicts of interest inherent in
self-policing.
Ombudsman services in selected countries
The following three examples ofnational bodies shall demonstrate inhow far it is possibletorepresent
and defend thevoices of thefuture generations.
Israel
In 2001, the Israeli parliament formed aCommission for Future Generations which
operated with afive-year mandate as aunit ofthe Knesset that sought todefend the
needs and rights of future generations with specific focus on the creation of“adimension
of the future that would be included inthe primary and secondary legislation ofthe
State ofIsrael” (Knesset 2013). The Commission’s field ofactivity included natural
resources, education, health, technology, law, development, demography and any other
matter ofspecial interest to future generations as defined byIsraeli constitution, law and
justicecommittee. The Commission’s majorauthorities include (Knesset 2013):
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theprovision of opinions on bills, secondary legislation and regulations of interest
tofuture generations;
the provision of the Knesset with recommendations on any issue the Commissioner
considered relevant tothe rights of future generations;
the demand for any information from institutions under inspection bythe state
auditor;
the request from aparliamentary committee “reasonable time” toaccumulate
data and prepare evaluation regarding certain bills or secondary legislation with
particular relevancefor future generations.