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Portugal and Turkey
The partnership between the Ombudsman of Portugal and his Turkish counterpart was officially launched on Monday 12 November in Ankara with a kick-off meeting between the teams from both institutions.
The meeting followed the Portuguese Ombudsman selection by the European Union (EU) for a twinning project to reinforce the technical training of the Turkish Ombudsman staff.
The project is part of the general objective of strengthening the rule of law in Turkey and aims to develop the capacity of the Ombudsman's institution to defend fundamental rights, handle complaints against human rights and guarantee its independence from the political power. The institution in Turkey was founded in 2012 and is elected by the Turkish National Assembly.
The twinning project will be developed during the year 2019 through regular working visits of staff from the Portuguese Ombudsman to Ankara. The purpose is to offer training and exchange good practices in processing complaints in several areas, namely energy and environment law, banking law, local administration, security and justice, civil service, social security, education, migration, refugees, minorities, women, children and the elderly, transparency and communication.
At the end of the project, a working visit will be organized by the Ombudsman of Turkey to Lisbon, to accompany the daily work of the Portuguese Ombudsman and to discuss issues related to the Ombudsman’s role in the promotion of Human Rights.
Source: Portuguese Ombudsman, Portugal
