Human rights. Portuguese Ombudsman closes training sessions with the Turkish counterpart
The Portuguese Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, closed on 24 May in Ankara the cycle of human rights training actions with a view to strengthening of the Ombudsman of Turkey.
In her speech, Maria Lúcia Amaral explained that the creation of the Nordic-inspired “Ombudsman” was one of the first consensuses of the Portuguese democratic era, and that today still remains intact that consensus on the importance of having an independent institution capable of defending people from abuses of power by administrations or other public authorities
The twinnig project, promoted by the European Union, was started in November 2018, this being the first time that a European program of this nature is led by the Ombudsman of Portugal.
The Turkish Ombudsman, a position currently held by Şeref Malkoç, has been active since 2013, and has responded to a volume of complaints amounting to 2,500 a month.
Throughout this twinning project, ten training missions were developed, involving two dozen collaborators from the most diverse thematic areas of the Ombudsman’s Office of Portugal, who travelled to Ankara to share their experience with the advisors and coordinators of the counterpart institution Turkey, following a training plan approved by the European Union.
The project will be completed by the end of the first half of the current year with three study visits by employees of the Ombudsman of Turkey and the holder of the post to the Portuguese Institution.
Learn more:
Portuguese Ombudsman selected by EU for project to strengthen Turkish counterpart