Kosovo | Handover procedure between former Ombudsman Kurteshi and recently elected Ombudsman Jashari

Handing over procedure of responsibilities between former Ombudsman Mr Sami Kurteshi and newly elected Ombudsman, Mr Hilmi Jashari, took place on 6 July 2015. After the formal ceremony organized on this occasion within the Ombudsman Institution’s Headquarter, Mr Jashari and Mr Kurteshi addressed to the media with their statements.

Mr Kurteshi’s statement addressed to the media pointed out the good work done by the Assembly by electing the new Ombudsman and expressed his satisfaction for leaving the institution with relatively sophisticated procedure of case handling, which denotes the core issue of Institution’s mission as well as pointed out several challenges with which new Ombudsman will face immediately, among them, one which seeks immediate solution is to ensure appropriate building for OI, which ought to be in compliance with requests for accomplishment of the mission entrusted to it, enabling unhindered access of the parties, with the main emphases on disabled people.

While Mr Jashari indicated the fact that worldwide, the Ombudsperson Institution is considered as a crucial institution for development of democracy, in one country. Among other issues he mentioned also the strong legal base as a priority in empowering of the role of this institution in the country and disclosed two main challenges in front of him: increase of citizens’ trust on the work of the Ombudsperson Institution and empowering of Ombudsman’s recommendations, which are comprehensible in a country like ours with a fragile democracy. He stressed that he will focus on advancement of official investigations foreseen with the new recently adopted Law on Ombudsperson, as well as on other possibilities on special case reporting.

The Assembly of Republic of Kosovo, on its plenary session of July 2, 2015 has elected Mr Hilmi Jashari, new Ombudsman which won the most votes.

Source: Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo