netherlands | Poldershop: Ombudsman standards future-proof?

As Ombudsman institutes we take action against maladministration affecting the citizens of our country. But what are the standards against which we measure the performance of government and why do we use these standards? Are the standards we currently apply future-proof considering the challenges our societies face now and in the near future and the role of the Ombudsman therein? Or are there possibilities for improvement?

The Dutch National Ombudsman is currently looking into these questions regarding his own standards. The main standards he uses are extra-legal norms formulated by the institute itself, called "Guidelines on proper conduct". The guidelines are mainly applied in reports on individual complaints, but also in own initiative investigations. The last revision of these standards took place in 2012. Now – 10 years later – the Ombudsman finds it important to evaluate whether his standards should be reconsidered.

To that end he has initiated discussions in the Netherlands but also on an international level, since the base of our work is similar: protecting the interests of citizens in relation to their government. For this reason several interviews with other Ombudsman institutions were conducted in the past two years. The participants were invited to discuss this topic further in a Poldershop in The Hague on Tuesday 25 October.

The first concrete outcome of this Poldershop is that we should continue this international research and explore how we best can involve other Ombudsman institutions in our next steps.

Source: National Ombudsman, Netherlands