Ombudsman Igli Totozani appealed the Albanian citizens to not hesitate
and report all cases when their rights are violated by political parties
during the electoral campaign and electoral process.
“Citizens can address to our institution if they note human rights violations during the campaign. If any public administration employee is pressured to participates in electoral meetings for protecting his job, this is a human rights violation and the Ombudsman has the authority to act. If a public administration employee is obliged to hand over his identity card, because they think he could vote differently; if any child is sent to attend electoral meetings rather than staying inside his class and continue with the lessons, this is a case within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman”, Totozani declared.
Totozani underlined that besides the citizens’ report, they are also reviewing the options to establish a working group that will monitor administration employees, if they respect their official working hours to serve to citizens or if they leave their offices to participate in political events.
Totozani declared that he will send recommendations to the Ministry of Education for any children’s rights violation during the electoral campaign.
“If we verify that public administrators are attending political meetings rather than serving in their offices, we will report not only to the Ministry of Education, but also to the public administrations and even local ones. We are reviewing the options to undertake unexpected monitoring sessions from our staff in municipalities, communes and schools”, Totozani declared.
The Ombudsman cannot be involved in political matters, but the citizens’ reports for their violated rights are a competence of this institution. Totozani released these comments during a meeting with the representatives of a free legal assistance agency in Kosovo.
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