ГавриловаО.А_summery (Конституционно-правовой статус омбудсмана в иберо-американских странах), страница 4

The paragraph is spit into two parts:“Distinctions in emergence and establishment of the institution of ombudsmen inEuropean Iberian countries” and “Distinctions in emergence and establishmentof the institution of ombudsmen in Ibero-American countries of Latin America”.The first part analyzes the process of establishment of the institution in Spain andPortugal. It draws a conclusion that the establishment of the institution of ombudsmenin these countries played a major role in their successful transition from authoritarianregimes, which is typified by neglect of human rights, to constitutionalism, which isfollowed by institutional, ideological and psychological entrenchment of human rightsas the highest merit.

In turn, the success of the institution of ombudsmen in thesecountries is determined by a variety of factors, which were in play during its creation.Firstly, the research of the experience of the two countries shows, that social science(especially jurisprudence) and journalism representatives can play a major role indemocratization and improvement of human rights situation, having in theirpossession a number of efficient tools of influence on the public opinion – both masspublic and the elite – in accordance with a wide expertise in the field of human rightsprotection and the public nature of their work.

The realization of the specialresponsibility of these professional societies for the human rights situation is theirprimary task under the conditions of authoritarian, hybrid and transitional regimes, forit is their active position that increases the probability in a positive shift. Secondly, theestablishment and evolution processes of the institution of ombudsmen in Spain andPortugal display the importance of the strive towards the compromise between allpolitical powers, for the ability to compromise from both leading and oppositionpolitical forces in many ways allowed for the efficient institution of ombudsmen to beestablished in these countries.

Thirdly, the desire of the developers of the institution inEuropean Iberian countries to both research the international experience with the aimof using the best models and features and enrich it with their own original ideas andmechanisms (i.e. the authority to petition the constitutional court for verification ofconstitutionality of legislation acts regarding human rights, to get involved in remedyof amparo and habeas data procedures) deserve attention and praise.

Finally, theexpansion of the geography of the institution of ombudsmen, owing to successfulentrenchment in the aforementioned countries, presents important evidence ofincreased importance of institutions of soft power in the modern society, including thefield of dispute settlement between the public authority officials and the citizens – atrend in need of a thorough and comprehensive analysis. The readiness to accept softpower and to comply with its recommendations is one of the signs and guarantees ofthe enrichment of the atmosphere of cooperation between the citizens and thegovernment with solidarity and mutual respect. The part “Distinctions in emergenceand establishment of the institution of ombudsmen in Ibero-American countriesof Latin America” researches the conditions and processes of emergence of theinstitution in each of the analyzed countries of Latin America, and draws a conclusionthat establishing the institution was aimed not only at protecting human rights fromillegal and unwarranted actions by the government officials, but also atcomprehensive improvement of the human rights situation in these countries, as wellas expansive improvement of the operation of the public authority mechanism.Current constitutions of Latin American countries provided guarantees of politicaland legislative stability, and adherence to human rights.

As of now, the governmentsof these countries aspire to realize constitutional norms via an open dialogue with theinternational society, improvements in education levels and jurisprudential cultureamong the citizens, etc.The third paragraph “Sources of law regulating the status of IberoAmerican ombudsmen: types and content basis” of the first chapter of thedissertation analyzes the types of sources of law regulating the status of Ibero-American ombudsmen, which include the constitution, international and internalagreements, organic legislation, other legislation and ombudsmen’s rules ofprocedure.

With that, meetings and other international events dedicated to humanrights, which helped design official documents containing norms, and principlesregulating the institution of ombudsmen had significant influence on the creation ofthe institution in these countries. In the majority of Ibero-American countries(excluding Costa Rica and Uruguay) this institution is accounted for in theconstitution, which signifies the acceptance of the importance of the institution in theresearched countries.The fourth paragraph “Types of ombudsmen in Ibero-Americancountries” of the first chapter of the dissertation is dedicated to the analysis of thevariety of types of ombudsmen in Ibero-American countries.

During thedemocratization process in almost every country of Latin America, as well as Spainand Portugal, the institutions of ombudsmen were created with varying authorities andterritorial limitations. Private local ombudsmen are almost not provided for in thisgroup of countries. It is explained by the socio-economical features of Latin Americancountries falling behind the more developed countries in terms of low quality of life,which explains an insufficient sense of self-worth levels of workers and theirrealization of their own rights, as well as not aiding the implementation of the privateinstitutions, which have been established in the more developed countries, that ensureguarantees for the citizens in their interactions with administrations of localorganizations, such as establishing local ombudsmen in organizations. On the otherhand, the researched countries possess a significant variety of specializedombudsmen,includingombudsmenprotectingwomen’srights,indigenouspopulation’s rights and migrant’s rights.

It is important to note the distinctions of thetypes of ombudsmen in relation to the appointment procedure. On the contrary to theother countries, where the parliament alone is involved in the appointment procedure,in Colombia and Panama the executive branch bodies are involved in theaforementioned procedure. In many instances (Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica,Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay, El-Salvador and Ecuador) theterm of an ombudsman correlates with the term of the government body involved inthe appointment procedure. The countries where these terms do not correlate areArgentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Spain and Mexico.The second chapter “Elements of the constitutional legal status ofombudsmen in Ibero-American countries” of the dissertation is dedicated toanalyzing the distinctions of the most important aspects of the status of ombudsmen inIbero-American countries, as well analyzing the guarantees of realizing the rightsprotection potential of the institution of ombudsmen.The first paragraph “Appointment of ombudsmen in Ibero-Americancountries” of the second chapter of the dissertation puts under the microscope thedistinctions of appointment procedures for ombudsmen and the terms of their servicein the researched countries from the perspective of ensuring their autonomy andefficiency.

It features the analysis of different approaches to requirements tocandidates for the ombudsman position, as well as the models of appointingombudsmen in the researched countries: the parliament model (typified by theparliament being solely involved in all stages of the appointment procedure) and themodel with the involvement of the executive branch. It brings up the distinction of thenomination stage in a number of Ibero-American countries, where the institutions ofthe civil society take part in the aforementioned procedure.

Such involvement isprovided for in the legislation of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador.The second paragraph “Functions and competence of ombudsmen inIbero-American states” of the second chapter of the dissertation highlights thefunctions of Ibero-American ombudsmen manifested in different authorities ofombudsmen, which make up their competence. Depending on the amount ofauthorities granted to an ombudsman, there is a distinction between ombudsmen ofgeneral competence and ombudsmen of special competence. The paragraph containsthe analysis of authorities of each group. It also features the analysis of distinctfeatures typical exclusively for Ibero-American ombudsmen of general competence.Most notable, it is the authority to get involved in the remedy of amparo and habeasdata procedures.