Europe & CIS

UNDP launches guides for ombudsman institutions

Ombudspersons play a key role in helping citizens gain their lawful rights, and for countries of Eastern Europe and the CIS, creating and sustaining credible, well-functioning Ombudsman institutions continues to pose unique challenges.

In order to help Ombudsman institutions in the region better serve individuals and groups seeking justice, the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (BRC) has produced two new publications for Ombudsman institutions, How to Handle Complaints and How to Conduct Investigations, aimed at providing personnel with accessible guidelines on the rules and approaches for examining complaints and conducting investigations.

“Ombudsman institutions are the first point of contact for citizens seeking redress from a public administration,” said Sergei Sirotkin, Human Rights and Justice Policy Advisor at BRC. “This puts them on the frontlines of human rights protection, and that is why it is of critical importance that they are able to carry out their functions effectively, according to internationally accepted standards.”

How to Handle Complaints explains best practices on policies regarding receipt of complaints, procedures to be followed when receiving complaints, personnel policies, confidentiality, bias, service equity, physical access to an office, and protection of complainants and witnesses against retribution.

How to Conduct Investigations details policies regarding the receipt of complaints, decisions to investigate or not, how they are investigated and how the results of those investigations are presented to the complainant, the subject of the investigation, the public and the media.

Sharing best practices developed by Ombudsman institutions around the world, both guides draw on data, knowledge and experience accumulated during the past two decades, including through several International Roundtables for Ombudspersons in Eastern Europe and the CIS organized by BRC to share experience and build capacity of institutions.

The guides were produced by BRC’s Democratic Governance Group in response to requests from the Ombudspersons roundtables, and are part of an ongoing programme to support national human rights institutions in the CIS.

 

To download electronic version of How to Handle Complaints and How to Conduct Investigations, please visit the UNDP Europe and CIS website: http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_publications/show&f=121658

For further information, please contact: Sergei Sirotkin, Human Rights and Justice Policy Advisor at sergei.sirotkin@undp.org or John Macauley, Research Assistant at john.macauley@undp.org

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