Annual Report 2013 No. 13 31 March 2014 Prishtina 1 Mr. Jakup Krasniqi President of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo Prishtina Honoured President of the Assembly, Based on the Article 135 paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the Article 27, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Law on the Ombudsperson, I am pleased to submit to you the thirteenth annual report of the Ombudsperson of the Republic of Kosovo. At the same time, please accept our request for presentation of this report in a plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as opening of discussions regarding this report. Sincerely, Sami Kurteshi The Ombudsperson of the Republic of Kosovo Prishtina, 31 March 2014 2 OMBUDSPERSON'S REMARKS1 Co-existence in a democratic society necessarily requires an open, sincere and continuous inter-human communication. In the modern state, such communication is necessary between citizens and the state. The state, among others, is the entirety of human relations expressed in all possible forms: person to person, person to group, group to group, person to institution, group to institution, and institution to institution, etc. Sound communication as basis of action, relies on inter-human trust which must be rebuilt constantly. Trust between citizens and the state, which includes all possible forms of communication, is pursuant to the codified social norms observance of the laws. This trust is directly proportional with state officials - public authorities’ integrity. It is related to respecting the laws and with the establishment of internal effective and operative mechanisms of public authorities for resolving citizens' complaints. Expectations and requirements of citizens towards public authorities are to solve the problems they have. The problems are numerous, whereas requirements may be reasonable and unreasonable. The state has to cope with the problems and requirements of citizens and must inform them on the opportunities, remedies and legal ways they have for submitting their requests and respond to their requirements based on the law. The Ombudsperson is an integral part of this institutional and inter-human communication. It is a part of the complex node of relations between citizens - public authorities. On one hand, he must transmit citizens' complaints to authorities, by seeking solutions for them. On the other hand, he must consider remedies and limited possibilities of the authorities for completion and solving of all claims. However, the Ombudsperson also defends public authorities by rejecting criticism, unlawful complaints or claims against them. Failure on any of these links will be very risky for everyone: for public authorities, they will lose the citizens trust; consequently for the citizens, because they will seek other solutions outside of state institutions; necessarily for Ombudsperson, because it would lead to deterioration of relations with public authorities, when the Ombudsperson addresses them upon failure to comply with the law, which in turn will be detrimental to the citizens. This is the most risky scenario for the citizen. Citizen-public authorities trust is built on these relations. The commitment of public authorities in establishing and improving standards of action including standards of ethics as well, by simplifying the complexity of citizen's access procedures to public authorities; establishment and operationalization of simplified internal procedures for access of citizens with complaints; increases citizen's trust in public authorities - the state. In this sense, the Ombudsperson role and intention is to promote and observe ethical standards in public administration. Establishment, operationalization, simplification of internal procedures by 1 Please refer to the basic text in Albanian language in case of any ambiguity, uncertainty and discrepancy in English translation. 3 public administration regarding citizens' complaints, the Ombudsperson does not consider as a dangerous competition for itself, however welcomes it as a necessary ethical action of authorities. Simplification of procedures, transparency, responsibility and integrity of public administration in relation to the citizen, constitutes the foundation of trust in a modern democratic society. Actions and inactions, decisions and lack of decisions of public authorities are integral part of public decision making. If citizens believe and are convinced that public authorities act fairly towards them, treat public wealth, serve the public interest as the common good and not as private, take right decisions, decisions are based on laws and consequently predictable, and upon complaints the citizens have simple and clear means and ways to address their dissatisfaction, therefore, trust in public authorities is a necessary process and has no alternative. Only this way of acting of public authorities should be cultivated on daily basis, in each individual contact with citizens. Public authorities are the state itself. They are established and operate based on laws. However, public authorities' operate, other than the normative definition, must be led by the principle of ethical actions as well. Violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, violation of fundamental principles of modern public administration (such as; non- discrimination and proportionality) constitute severe violations of the ethical action. Violation of the law by public authorities and especially their unethical action, even if in a sole individual case, which remains unsanctioned, are actions that completely lose any trust in the state, and constitute the key evidence of mismanagement and failure of the administration system. Under the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo every person is entitled to a range of legal remedies to seek justice in case of such violations. However, these remedies must initially be clear and effective; secondly, the mechanisms for their implementation must be efficient and prepared to cope with such cases. Currently, public administration, including the judiciary in the Republic of Kosovo, is not always able to cope with such cases, especially within a reasonable timeframe. Besides unlimited delays in handling cases, such cases cannot always be easily proved and argued. Therefore, this makes it even more necessary the existence and operation of extrajudicial independent institutions, which, within a short period of time can handle these cases effectively, impartially and professionally. In cases of violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, discrimination and mismanagement, the Ombudsperson's role is crucial. Handling and solution of individual cases of different violations should be the task of public authorities itself, rather than being a task of the Ombudsperson's. Because, public authorities themselves are the law in action, i.e. apply laws in practice, which essentially comprise the stated willingness of each and everyone through their vote. The Ombudsperson as an independent institution, with no executive and sanctioning powers, and has a specific institutional role. Except monitoring, protection and promotion of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the Ombudsperson mission is to strengthen the rule of law and consolidate public authorities in being responsible towards citizens. As a moral 4 mediator between the citizen and public authorities, through its constructive recommendations, seeks positive changes only through moral authority and persuasion. Therefore, the Ombudsperson should focus more on proactive action regarding law and public authorities’ improvement, jointly committed to create a climate in which public authorities understand and embody their legal obligations as ethical action principles as well as gradual transformation of these ethical principles into moral category of general social action. 5 CONTENT OMBUDSPERSON'S REMARKS ............................................................................................ 3 PREFACE ………….. ............................................................................................................ .12 CHAPTER I ...........................................................................................................................19 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 19 1.1. Ombudsperson Institution.............................................................................................. 19 1.2. The mandate of the Ombudsperson Institution.............................................................. 19 1.3. Access to the Ombudsperson Institution ....................................................................... 21 CHAPTER II .........................................................................................................................23 HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO ......................... 23 2.1. Direct application of international instruments and arrangements ................................ 23 2.2. Human dignity ............................................................................................................... 24 2.3. Equality before the law .................................................................................................. 26 2.3.1. Gender Equality ...................................................................................................... 26 2.3.2. Participation in the labour market and in political decision-making ....................