PRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA, AT THE 50-TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DANISH PARLIAMENTARY 

OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

30 MARCH 2005

Dear colleagues

First of all, I like to express my gratitude to the Office of the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman and to Mr. Hans Gammeltoft Hansen in persona, for extending us the invitation to participate in this significant activity.

Being an Office, established and functioning primarily due to the financial and professional contribution of the Danish colleagues and friends, it is my great pleasure to convey to this honorable audience a brief overview  on the Ombudsman Institution in Albania.

The Albanian new constitution approved through the referendum of the year 1998, was recognized as a contribution of both  local experts and the international ones. In five articles of this new constitution it was  foreseen the establishment of the Institution of the People’s Advocate, its rights and duties, its status and the main competences. In February 1999, the Albanian Parliament passed the respective law with its 40 articles “On the People’s Advocate”.

When the establishment of the People`s Advocate was still under discussion, before the approval of the constitution took place, the Ombudsman was unknown to the Albanian public including here the Albanian lawyers and sociologists.

The firts People`s Advocate electing process in the Parliament  in the year 2000, was quite open and democratic. There were 15 candidates to compete, of whom I won  more than 2/3^rd of MP votes from all political forces participating in the Parliament. On the 17^th  of February, the Albanian Parliament decided  that I, as the first Ombudsman of Albanian, to continue this job for a second  5 year mandate. This is a guarantee for a further continuation and consolidation of the so far achievements of the People’s Advocate Institution. But let’s get back to the initial efforts for establishing People’s Advocate Institution, because its beginnings are part of the experience, the Danish Ombudsman Institute has created over these 50 years. 

So, for the establishment of the Institution of the Albanian People`s Advocate were engaged some of the international bodies, especially the Council of Europe and OSCE. The international pressure helpful for the establishment of the democratic institutions, following the financial support to Albania, was associated positively with a coordinated support through consultancy, thrashing out ideas, supporting initiatives and moreover through financial guarantees for this new institution. The Albanian law on the People`s Advocate is  a combination of the Danish and the Swedish ones.

Undoubtedly, the keystone contribution to defining a clear vision of the People’s Advocate Institution activity was the first visit of the Danish Ombudsman, Mr. Gammeltoft Hansen in Sptember 2000. This visit had its impact in the professional aspect of the functioning of an Ombudsman`s Office, as well as in the financial aspect, for drafting the projects of assistance, undertaken by DANIDA, aiming at establishing, strengthening and consolidating our Office. Mr. Gammeltoft Hansen has already been 4 times in Albania providing us concretely with his assistance. Besides, Mr. Jens Olsen, the legal chief /adviser to the Danish Ombudsman and Mr. Christian Moller, the  IT manager,  have come to Albania twice a year  to provide their assistance too. My office staff members have received trainings in the Danish counterpart office, and not only the lawyers but the technical staff as well. The Danish experience obtained has been very valuable to us. Our case management system is the same as the Danish one too. In this framework, I would also like to underline the contribution of Mr. Soren Knudsen, as a great coordinator of the Danish Assistance to my Office.

Dear colleagues, 

            Since the very beginning the People` Advocate was concentrated on the solution of some complaints regarding issues affecting a big number of citizens in Albania. To give a solution to these complaints meant that the People`s Advocate should intervene to the main state institutions or provide recommendations on the improvement of legislation for positive results. An example is the complaint of an ex-landowner, expropriated by the communist regime, whose land property was used by the communist state to build a factory, which at present was under the process of privatisation. The landowner was invited to become a shareholder but the value of his land property and consequently the value of his share was very low decided by a decision taken by the Government. This was an open violation of the right to property. Therefore, the People`s Advocate recommended to the Government to change its decision on the question. The government refused to consider our Recommendation, so the People`s Advocate had to refer the case to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court considered the case as a flagrant violation of human rights and invalidated the decision of the Government as it was recommended by the People`s Advocate. The solution given to a complaint in favour of the complainant was an advantage to hundreds of ex-landowners in Albania. This got provided for the new law of the year 2004 on the property restitution and compensation of the ex – landowners.

You can understand the positive impact of this case to the Albanian public opinion thinking that a very new institution like the People`s Advocate “taught a good lesson to the Government”. All this had an effect upon all other institutions of the Albanian public administration which learned that the recommendations of the People`s Advocate must be considered, respected and implemented. There have been other similar cases as the abovementioned.

An immediate need since the beginning of the year 2000 was the establishment of an independent system of services for the citizens whose rights had been violated by the public administration.

             In five year activity, the People’s Advocate staff has faced an increasing workload, amounting to approximately 15 000 complaints, with an average of 20 per cent being solved positively, i.e. in favour of the citizens.

             Anyhow, the challenges for the future of the institution of the People’s Advocate are to be its effectiveness and its impact on good governance, so as to increase the quality of services provided to the citizens.

Jurisdiction of this new National Human Right Institution of Albania covers a wide range of issues, affecting the human right dimension in our country. Ombudsman intervention for improving the voters list and clearing it from the passed away people, Ombudsman intervention for preventing the law violators from being repeatedly part of election commissions, and still, appointment of the Ombudsman representative to the top of media monitoring board during the election process of the year 2003, are contributions of the Ombudsman even for the current situation in Albania concerning the Parliamentary elections to take place in July 2005.

Human rights abuses by the police have always been a priority to this office. During five years of activity, as many as 92 police officers have been punished upon Ombudsman`s recommendation, for violating and abusing human rights.

I wish to bring to the attention of this audience, just an example, which accounts for the intervention of the Albanian Ombudsman making possible to exhume someone corpse to reach the conclusion that his death was caused by the police ill-treatment and not from alcohol overdose, as it was claimed initially by the police themselves and the prosecutor’s office. Consequently, four police officers were put behind bars, and punished, avoiding as such an example of impunity, and simultaneously preventing a conflict between the police and the people.    

          Dear colleagues,

Addressing the issues in a state, foreseen to function in terms of the limited powers principle, as the democracy paradigms imply, is a challenge we have to cope with, and that’s we are trying to do properly by interacting with the civil society, media, human right institutions and governmental bodies. 

Since the moment our office began its activity, we were aware of the collaboration with the forth power, thus considering media and transparency as our most reliable allies.

It is understandable that media coverage is always in compliance with the problem-range and work intensity of our Institution. We intend that the People's Advocate Recommendation should accomplish a greater positive impact on the Public Administration. In our opinion, without neglecting for a single moment the citizens' daily complaints, our Institution is trying to positively influence on good governance in Albania.

Finally, I would like again to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Gammeltoft Hansen and his staff members for the continuous support in establishing People’s Advocate Institution of Albania. This gratitude has been formalized by an act of the President of Albania, who just recently, upon proposal of the Albanian Ombudsman, conferred to Mr. Gammeltoft Hansen, a Gratitude Medal, of which I am very proud of.

Thank you very much for your attention and patience.