15 April 2013
Skopje
ADDRESSING OF THE OMBUDSMAN MR. IXHET MEMETI AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Your Excellencies, Members of legislative bodies, civil society, dear guests,
It is my pleasure that I can address you at this regional conference on the need for European integration through cooperation between parliaments, civil society and independent regulatory authorities.
This conference represents a continuation of the last year’s meeting in Belgrade and aims to highlight the important role that independent bodies and civil society play for the development of democracy, rule of law and raising awareness of human rights in society and in the spirit of Declaration of Ljubljana.
The process of good communication and cooperation among active and independent civil society actors with legislative bodies represents the basis of implementation of the national policies towards ensuring accountability, responsibility and inclusiveness in society.
The role of external bodies cannot be underestimated in the process of Euro-Atlantic integrations of the region because only that way a dialogue will be encouraged aimed at exchanging experiences and identifying the need for strengthened action for achieving the desired goal.
As an introductory speaker at this panel discussion I believe the theme: „Democracy and human rights – between legislature and reality“ is of great importance for the development of the society and improvement of the degree to which human rights are respected, exercised and protected.
In this regard I would like to point out that the harmonization of the national legislation with the European Union’s law, is not solely a technical matter, but rather it is a process that constantly needs to be upgraded and developed in order to meet the society’s real needs. The non-inclusive and non-transparent approach when creating or changing legislation can create inconsistencies of the legal norms, which in turn can lead to legal instability and uncertainty and adversely affect the overall democratic development, but it can also disable citizens to exercise their guaranteed rights effectively.
In fact, we are aware that in our region we are approaching very easily towards creating and changing legal norms which are part of the national legal order. But, I assume that they don’t always keep up with the reality in our societies, on the contrary, they are often in odds with the real needs that are becoming more difficult or completely inapplicable.
Besides, we should be aware that often we create legislation that remains only a written norm because of the lack of material and technical conditions and human resources, as well as failure to provide adequate budgetary allocations, and in reality it is difficult or even impossible to be applied. Thus we ourselves create difficulties for the citizens who can therefore difficultly handle the situations of legal uncertainty and reduce their trust in the legal system and rule of law.
Additionally, I believe that this type of action often generates administration that cannot always fully absorb and apply legal norms, which creates fertile ground for violation of rights and freedoms of citizens. We should observe that our public administration and other law enforcement state bodies do not have the desired capacity, which I think requires continuous training in order to strengthen their expertise and efficiency.
The Ombudsman is an independent institution which according to the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia protects the constitutional and legal rights of citizens when violated by bodies of state administration and other bodies or organizations that have public mandates, with particular attention paid to the need for non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual respect for diversity. Steady growth of the number of people who regardless of their affiliation seek protection from our institution, shows that the recognition of the Ombudsman is growing and the institution is closer to citizens and more prevalent in society.
I would like to point out that the Ombudsman uses the experiences from the non-governmental sector in the Republic of Macedonia and collaborates with them during its operations. With joint effort we try to improve the attitude of the institutions towards citizens and to inform the citizens about their rights and how to recognize when those rights are being violated in order to seek protection.
When protecting citizens’ rights, we usually coordinate with our partners from the civil society sector and occasionally conduct joint training activities for the public administration towards strengthening its professionalism and expertise and raising awareness about human rights.
I would like to mention that the Ombudsman – National Preventive Mechanism, responsible for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, last year began cooperation with professional citizens associations and in 2013 is planning to enlarge that cooperation with other sections of the civil society.
In regards to the cooperation of the Ombudsman with the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, I would like to point out that it is my legal obligation to inform this body with an annual report. Two weeks ago I delivered the annual report to the Parliament on the extent of providing respect, improvement and protection of constitutional and legal rights for 2012, where I expect soon to be seriously and thoroughly examined during a plenary. That way I am directly indicating the structural problems and legislative gaps and shortcomings, for which the legislative body should undertake appropriate measures and actions and the executive body should overcome the detected weaknesses.
Dear, at the end I want to stress the importance and significance of establishing sustainable three-way dialogue between NGOs, independent bodies and the legislative body. Let me once again express my satisfaction of this organization at this or similar forums, which additionally bring us together to further our efforts towards achieving the common goal – building society in which human rights and freedoms are fully respected and implemented. Only that way we can truly reach the European democratic values and be properly implemented in our societies.
Thank you.