Hadi Khatib
Daily Star staff

Despite the enthusiasm with which the government has outlined a vision for a national ombudsman’s office, realizing that goal may require radical changes the country is not ready for.
In his opening speech on behalf of President Emile Lahoud at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel on Monday, Minister of State for Administrative Reform Fouad Saad said that an ombudsman serving as a mediator between the government and the citizenry “is needed despite laws and regulations that are supposed to protect the rights of citizens.”
At the two-day seminar titled The Establishment of an Ombudsman, independent groups from 18 countries detailed their experiences with their elected home governments.
“The excessive number of government divisions and inter-related offices often involve complex procedures in handling public issues and services,” Saad said of the Lebanese situation. “Employee response time is often deliberately slow, making it impossible for the citizen to attain his full rights, thus making an ombudsman a necessity.”
Saad’s office has implemented a series of reform initiatives to improve the performance of public servants, such as the initiation of the employee “code of conduct” and the “citizen charter.”
In essence, the reforms were brought about under several European Union-funded activities aimed at preparing Lebanon’s entry into the organization.
“Our cooperation effort with Lebanon in reforming the government’s performance includes a plan to spend 38 million euros ($40.7 million) through the Ministry of Reform and we have achieved concrete results so far,” said Vincent Depaigne, the head of delegation affairs of the European Commission in Lebanon.
He said that the mediator had become an integral part of public power and also “the normal expression of the idea that the administration needs to prove its good governance and respect for the law.”
An ombudsman is an independent authority who receives, within the boundaries of the law, citizens’ complaints resulting from their dealings with public offices. Also known as the “mediator of the republic,” the ombudsman is usually appointed for a nonrenewable period of four years. There are currently ombudsman in over 100 countries.
Philippe Bardiaux, the foreign affairs and human rights adviser for France’s ombudsman, Bernard Stasi, said that the mediator receives a wide-spectrum of complaints relating to social, fiscal, security urban and ecological issues.
“To deal with that, we need about 100 employees and a budget of around 6 million euros, working in total independence from any government organization,” Bardiaux told The Daily Star.
He said that 60 percent of employees are civil servants who are directly paid by their administration but “yet remain unbiased and pressure-free in their decision-making.”
While France has the resources to maintain an ombudsman office with internal integrity, the question remains about Lebanon’s ability to similarly institute one in the face of an economic crisis and confessional tension.
“This is an evolutionary institution, (with which) you start very small … and then you see if it grows roots and if the mediator sniffs corruption, you have to give him the means to question every level of the government and denounce it using the media as his ally,” Bardiaux said.
He said the Lebanese government, “which is trying to implement many administrative reforms and is showing interest in having an ombudsman, seems willing to tackle its corruption problems.”
Ivan Biziak, Slovenia’s minister of justice and former ombudsman for the republic, said during an interview with The Daily Star that “such an institution should be constitutionally based, because if it is created by a decree, it can also be destroyed by one.”
He added that a mediator in Slovenia is elected by a two-thirds majority and that for a population of 2 million, they need a staff of 25.
The staff is recruited on the basis of merit and “hiring and training are based on a corporate mentality.”
Slovenia was created in June 1991 after separation from the former Yugoslavia and has had an ombudsman since 1995.
During the first year that the office existed, complaints topped 1,800, but have since grown to some 3,500.
“The ombudsman has the wrong image that it will always be in conflict with the government, but my approach was that of partnership, because every honest minister is interested in improving the ability, effectiveness and efficiency of their offices, and that’s our job,” Biziak said.
“It is important that the ombudsman does not have binding power because many may not be satisfied with our position, others may have ill-founded complaints or the binding decision could affect another person or body negatively,” he added.
Biziak also said that the body needs the ability to work with a “totally transparent” government, within a democratic state under the rule of law.
“This means that the rulers are accountable for their actions and the law is clear, stable and applied equally to everyone,” he said.

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