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Regional meeting of Ombudsman institutions
The
Stability Pact for South East Europe organised, together with
the Eunomia Project of the Greek Ombudsman, the OSCE Mission in
Serbia and Montenegro, and the Ministry of Local Self Government
of the Republic of Serbia, held a Regional Conference of the Ombudsman
Institutions in South Eastern Europe (SEE) in Belgrade. The
meeting brought together ombudsmen and staff of the ombudsman
institutions from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, fYR
of Macedonia, Montenegro (Serbia and Montenegro), Moldova, Romania
and UNMIK/ Kosovo to discuss and exchange experiences of the responsibilities
and challenges facing the ombudsman institutions in the South
East European region. Participants
were addressed among others, by European Ombudsman Dr Nikiforos
Diamandouros, Ombudsman of Catalonia Mr Rafael Ribo, Ombudsman
of Greece Mr. Yorgos B. Kaminis, as well as Mr Markus Jaeger,
representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights of the Council of Europe. The meeting was chaired by Mrs
Elisabeth Rehn, Chairperson of the Stability Pact's Democracy
and Human Rights Table. In
a separate event, Minister of Local Self Government of the Republic
of Serbia Mr Zoran Loncıar presented the status of the preparation
of the ombudsman law in Serbia. According to Minister Loncıar,
a draft law text establishing the ombudsman institution in Serbia
has been drafted and is expected to be presented to the Parliament
of Serbia in the course of this autumn for adoption. The international
organisations present in the meeting supported this process and
hoped the law to be sufficiently strong to allow a fully functioning
of an independent ombudsman in Serbia, regardless of the person
who will be elected for the position. In
the South East European ombudsman gathering the speakers and ombudsmen
emphasized the importance an independent status of the institution
from the state bodies being a condition for the effectiveness
of the institution. In addition, some key aspects of the ombudsman
institutions work were discussed and supported, such as the importance
of raising public awareness of the ombudsman institution's existence
and mandate, transparency of its proceedings, trust generated
by ombudsman towards population, but also towards state bodies
such as administration and judiciary. |
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