Second Local Ombudsman Round Table: The Institution Local Public Mediator: Mechanism for Human Rights Protection and Curbing Corruption
On March 12, 2004 the Second Local Ombudsman Round Table was held in Sofia. It was organized jointly by Coalition 2000 and the Center for the Study of Democracy and focused on the experience and the best practices of the local public mediators as a mechanism to protect human rights and to combat corruption.
The development of the institutional and legal prerequisites for establishing ombudsman type institutions in Bulgaria, especially the adoption in 2003 of the legal framework of the institution on both national and local level (Law on the Ombudsman, Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration) and the necessity for its further development and improvement were among the main topics of the discussion. The local public mediators’ functions and capacity to shorten the distance between citizens and the municipal administration, the mechanisms for establishing ombudsman type institutions on local level, the activities of and the difficulties met by the local ombudsmen operating in different municipalities, the opportunities for developing their co-operation were also some of the issues discussed.
Acting and former local public mediators, MPs, representatives of the local administration and NGOs active in the field of the establishment of the ombudsman type institutions and experts took part in the event.
