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                                                   Jun Sept Oct

Between the 2 –3 June, an international capacity building seminar, entitled “The Ombudsman’s oversight of the Police”, was organized in the city of Hermoupolis on the island of Syros.

Approximately forty representatives from Greece, Southeastern and other European countries were invited to participate in the seminar, among whom the Ombudsman delegations of Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, the Netherlands, representatives of the European Court of Human Rights, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Aristotle University of Thessalonica, the Chief of the Greek Police Headquarters with a four-member delegation of the Ministry of Public Order and other international experts.

The Greek Ombudsman attributes major importance to this seminar, as it was the first time that an open international comparative debate was organized in Greece, covering issues related to the police authority’s accountability to the Ombudsman and the internal disciplinary procedures of the Police itself.

Between 22-24 June, a team of three investigators (S. Amorianou, E. Mavromati, D. Hormovitis) of the GO’s staff visited the office of the Bulgarian counterpart institution in Sofia. The Greek delegates were informed by the Bulgarian Ombudsman, Mr. Ginyo Ganev, of the development of the Bulgarian Ombudsman’s strategy in handling citizen complains and had the chance to witness first hand its actual role in the Bulgarian political and administrative system. Amongst the particular topics discussed between staff members of the two institutions where the issues of civic rights towards land expropriations by the state and the reformation of the social security system. In addition, the Greek delegates met with representatives from the National Institute for monuments of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Mr. Y. Dimitrov. Finally the GO delegates followed the part of the Bulgarian Ombudsman’s field trip in the town of Plovdiv.

From the 14th till the 16th of September 2006 the Greek Ombudsman, in collaboration with his counterparts from Catalonia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, organized a capacity building seminar for Southeast European Ombudsman institutions; the theme was “The Ombudsman as an institution of administrative reform”. The topics of the seminar touched upon two different perspectives of the general theme. On the one hand, the exploration of best practices at the level of individual case-handling related to access to public documents and personal data as well as the Ombudsman’s mediation in cases of delays in administrative procedure and in particular, pensions and expropriations. On the other hand, besides sharing and comparing experiences of case-handling among the participants, the fundamental aim of the seminar was to go a step beyond the individual case-handing, by acknowledging the Ombudman’s role in dealing with systemic behavioral patterns of maladministration. As such, the Ombudsman institution is in an advantageous position, able to promote global strategies of administrative reform in administrative procedures and generally in the relations between individuals and the state.

In addition to the organizers, the seminar was attended by delegations from the Office of the European Ombudsman and the respective institutions from Austria, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Serbia and Slovenia, as well as representatives from the office of the European Committee and the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje and Belgrade.

Between the 18 – 19 of September, a seminar on environmental issues, organized by the Eunomia project and the Office of the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo, was held in Pristina. The seminar aimed to enhance the environmental case handling capacity of the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo, capitalizing on the experience and knowledge of the Greek Ombudsman. It was attended by two senior investigators of the Greek
Ombudsman (Mrs. Angelina Salamaliki and Mrs. Katerina Fliatoura) and twenty five senior investigators and the Deputy Ombudsman of the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo.

Between the 26 -27 October, GO senior investigator, Mr. Costas Antoniades, presented the Greek Ombudsman’s experience in the handling of environmental complaints in a seminar on “Environmental Protection and Human Rights” organized by the Vojvodina Ombudsman Institution in Pancevo.