MISSION REPORT

From the 19th to the 22nd of October 2004, a team from the Danish Ombudsman visited the Albanian ombudsman's institution in Tirana, Albania. The purpose of the visit was to follow up on the development following the now finalized Danida programme concerned with support for the start and consolidation of the Albanian Ombudsman.

The Danish team consisted of team leader Mr. Jens Olsen, Director of international relations and Mr .Christian MoIler, IT manager.

During the visit a series of meetings and discussions were conducted. The contents of these are briefly summarized below.

Summary

Meetings were held with the Albanian Ombudsman, Mr .Ermir Dobjani - the discussed subjects included:

-The development of the Albanian institution and its impact in Albanian society after 5 years of existence. No doubt the institution has developed into an important factor in Albanian society, not least through a very determined effort on both case processing and public relations. Mr .Dobjani reaches the end of his five year term in February 2005 and will be running for another term. Mr. Dobjani mentioned the start-up of regional offices as a possible priority for the coming period of time.

-International relations. Recently, Mr. Dobjani and Chief of Cabinet, Mr. Artur Lazebeu took part in a seminar held in Jordan, concerning the possible start-up of a Jordanian ombudsman’s institution. The Albanian institution has also been a driving force behind a regional projec involving the institutions of the surrounding countries -this project has been temporarily halted, but may well be brought back to life.

The team had a lengthy and fruitful discussion with Mr. Dobjani and Mr. Lazebeu concerning the subject of exporting the ombudsman concept and the support to and exchange with similar institutions. In the opinion of the team it is very positive to note how the Albanian institution has now consolidated itself in a way to be able to offer their support and experiences outwards.

The team met with the commissioners of the Albanian ombudsman to discuss among other things the development in the number of cases and the case subjects. A few case examples were discussed The commissioners informed the team that approximately one third of the concluded cases had been concluded in favour of the complainant, which led to an exchange of views on how to measure success of an ombudsman institution.

Also own-initiative cases, development in working methods and anti-corruption issues were discussed.

A meeting was held with the legal staff, where views were exchanged on their perception of the work and the development of the institution and the use of the IT -system.

Finally, the team had meetings with the IT manager, Mr .Anastas Leka, where a number of subjects were discussed in detail. These included back - up procedures, database capacity, system development, IT strategy, procurement procedures, etc. Also a still unfinished question of system maintenance was discussed.

The exchange of views and advice between Mr. Leka and the Danish institution has been ongoing throughout the involvement of the Danish institution in Albania and will continue.

Conclusion

In the opinion of the team the follow-up mission to Tirana was very fruitful. The exchange of views between the two institutions continues to serve as inspiration and all though a certain reservation concerning not least budgetary issues is called for, the Danish team shares the Albanian institutions positive attitude towards future work. Pending the result of the Albanian ombudsman election in 2005, the Danish team will continue to explore possibilities of cooperation between the Danish and the Albanian institution on the area of international relations.

10 November 2004

Jens Olsen     Christian MøIler