Speech delivered by  Mr. Søren Knudsen,  former Representative of the Royal Danish Embassy in Tirana for the DANIDA Program, at the Intenational Conference on the ocassion of the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the Institution of the People's Advocate in Albania

Tirana, December 10, 2009

 “How and how much the operation of the People’s Advocate in Albania  has influenced on democracy and human rights. Experience from the cooperation with the Albanian People’s Advocate Institution”

Distinguished and honoured guests,

I shall proceed directly to the best experience working with the Albanian People’s Advocate Institution. In doing so, I allow myself to address you as “Friends of the Ombudsman”. Ten years have gone, yet it seems as only a short time ago that many of us present today started meeting in the forum of “the Friends” to determine the joint efforts to support the Ombudsman´s Office, in particular during the first and most difficult period of the existence. And the Ombudsman certainly quickly got many important domestic and international other friends onboard too. I want to join the previous speakers in underlining that right here today; “The Friends” are indeed celebrating a success! 

Results count for themselves. Human rights and good governance in particular, are on the agenda today in a more differentiated and detailed way. Further efforts are needed, but I remain confident that the citizens are more aware of what they should expect from their leadership and the institutions in contemporary Albania than ten years ago. That is worth celebrating!

My time for this intervention is short. Accept that I use a metaphor to describe the institutional success of the Avokati i Popullit. To build up a good football team at least three issues should be considered very carefully: 1) The Coach and the other management must be professionally skilled but also able to lead the team in a challenging competition. 2) The players must be equally as skilled within each of their specific qualifications. At the same time they also need to be team players. 3) The team must play the game in surroundings and with spectators who may not initially accept or appreciate all the skills of the team. Or, the spectators may expect much more than can actually be delivered at first. 

Comparing the metaphor to “Team Avokati i Popullit”, firstly it must be acknowledged that Mr. Dobjani and his management team have shown their skills, also over the long haul. Secondly, the institution of the Ombudsman today holds indispensable, skilled employees who know where and why they are playing on the team. Thirdly, the institution of the Ombudsman has established itself strongly among the Albanian state institutions and we have witnessed that Avokati i Popullit is respected as a democratic tool among members of the government, the lawmakers and others. Fourthly, and not least, the Ombudsman institution interacts well with the spectators, the media and others. I recall that “the Friends” in length discussed the issue of how to advertise and distribute the efforts of the Ombudsman in all of Albania. Believe me I discovered that Mr. Dobjani is not only a serious but also a brave People’s Advocate when we sat in a small but crowded town hall office in the village of Lazaret hearing some pretty serious cases from people who were not exactly enthusiastic about any kind of representatives from Tirana.     

To conclude, it is worth celebrating that the winning Team of Avokati i Popullit does so well in a challenging Premier League!  

I am proud to continue to be a supporter of the Team, and I to continue to be a “Friend of the Ombudsman”.  Thank you for giving me this opportunity to say so among such an excellent audience. In Albanian language the birthday wish is “Edhe Njeqind”. 100 years may be a long time, and I do hope for a lot of good results much quicker than that, but anyway: Congratulations and “One Hundred Years” to the benefit of Human Rights in Albania.

Thank You.