Kosovar Ombudsman visits AOB

October 18, 2019

On 14 and 15 October, the Austrian Ombudsman Werner Amon received the Kosovar Ombudsman Hilmi Jashari and his 11-member delegation. The delegation consisted of leading staff members of the Ombuds Institution in Kosovo as well as from the EU project "Support to Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo". The study visit to Vienna was organised as part of this project, enabling the delegation to also visit other institutions in the field of human rights, equal treatment and anti-discrimination.

Building on the traditionally close relationship between the Austrian and Kosovar ombuds institutions, an in-depth exchange on the mandates and the role as National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) took place. Complaint handling and the results of the past year were another focus of the discussions. In this regard, the Kosovar ombuds institution was able to report a strong increase in the implementation of its recommendations. Both institutions agree that reliable handling of complaints and fast initial feedback to the complainant require a higher number of qualified staff.

The importance of public relations work in order to raise public awareness and to increase the effectiveness of recommendations was also stressed. The Austrian Ombudsman Board mentioned in this regard the presentation of the Annual Report in the Austrian Parliament, the TV programme "Advocate for the People", which is based on a cooperation with the Austrian national public service broadcaster ORF, and the website of the Ombudsman's Office.