BackOn 15 March 2019, the “Principles on the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman Institution”, (“The Venice Principles”) were adopted by the Venice Commission. The Venice Commission is the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law providing legal advice to its Member States.
The 25 Venice Principles represent the first, independent, international set of standards for the Ombudsman institution. They are the equivalent of the Paris Principles which set out the standards against which national human rights institutions are judged. They play a key role in protecting existing Ombudsman offices who are facing threats, provide guidelines for the improvement of current Ombudsman offices and set a template for new offices where none are present.
The original text, has been translated by the Office of the Ombudsman of the Province of Trento (Italy) and is now available in Italian.
