News in English     | 15.02.2018. 12:30 |

Džumhur: Ombudsmen mandate application in judiciary put into question

FENA Vernera Jakupović

SARAJEVO, February 15 (FENA) - Jasminka Džumhur, the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said today, on the occasion of a regional conference which is being held today and tomorrow in Sarajevo, that the Paris Principles were an international framework for the functioning of national ombudsmen institutions and that they include the widest possible mandate.

"We have this mandate under the law and Annex 6 of the Dayton Agreement, but the application of this mandate in the segment of judiciary is put into question. We have a dual role in the judiciary in the part relating to monitoring the execution of procedural activities - exercising the rights of parties in the proceedings. The second segment is that certain laws, such as the law on administrative dispute and civil proceedings, give the possibility for ombudsmen to act as ‘meddlers’, but the question arises as to the justification and purpose of involving the ombudsman in these proceedings because you can act as a friend of the court, give observations, maintain your neutrality, make recommendations, retain your expert interpretations which courts may apply. This conference is aimed at discussing legal solutions with our colleagues from the region and seeing what good practices are," said Ms. Džumhur.

The regional conference “Exchange of best practices in tackling the human rights violation cases with particular focus on combating discrimination” was organized by the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of BiH with the support of the EU Delegation to BiH, the Council of Europe Office in BiH and the OSCE Mission to BiH.

The aim of the Conference is the exchange of views and experiences on the role of institutions for human rights protection in judicial and administrative proceedings. The conference will provide a platform for discussion and exchange of good practices, and provide opportunities for strengthening the cooperation between these institutions in preventing and combating human rights violations, the organizers said.

Head of the Council of Europe's Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Drahoslav Štefánek, pointed out at the press conference ahead of the meeting that this was a very important event and the opportunity for regional institutions of ombudsmen and judiciary, academia and civil society organizations dealing with human rights issues, to exchange experiences about best practices in the field.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Bruce Berton, said that in terms of human rights, there was a multitude of challenges in BiH before all these institutions, especially when it comes to discrimination, particularly of minorities.

Since the OSCE relies on cooperation with the institutions of the ombudsmen, good results have been achieved, which has resulted in the fact that ombudsmen are working on an increasing number of cases and that, accordingly, the number of their recommendations has increased, he added.

Mr. Berton praised the commitment to amend the Law on Ombudsmen, which, he said, will ensure the greater financial independence of the Ombudsman Institution and improve its cooperation with civil society.

“The OSCE remains a strong partner and promoter of the Ombudsman Institution,” concluded Ambassador Berton.

 

(FENA)
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/vhosts/fena.ba/httpdocs/post-new.php on line 215

Vezane vijesti

Regional conference on cooperation with national minorities

More than thirty thousand young people join the activities of the 'Future for Youth' project (VIDEO)

Public interest the most important reason for better communication between the judiciary and media

Promo

BBI Banka nagrađuje za ukazano povjerenje novim Programom lojalnosti

Obuka za CNC operatere u Tehnološkom parku INTERA

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom