The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, recently adopted a new set of 25 key principles to help protect and promote ombudsmen.

The “Venice Principles” will be presented at the Council of Europe office in Brussels from 2pm on Tuesday 10 September 2019.

The guidelines emphasise that ombudsmen play an important role, alongside courts, in helping to ensure human rights, democracy and the rule of law as well as good administration.

Ombudsmen exist at different levels of government, and their core principles – including independence, objectivity, transparency, fairness and impartiality – can be achieved in many different ways.

Nevertheless, governments should respect a number of core principles to make sure that ombudsmen can fulfil their potential and be protected from various threats to their independence and effectiveness.

The principles will be presented by the Venice Commission’s Deputy Secretary Simona Granata-Menghini. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

Participants are also welcome to take part in an informal networking opportunity over coffee from 1.30pm.

For security reasons, anyone wishing to attend should register in advance via coeinbrussels@coe.int.