INDEPENDENCE AND AUTONOMY OF THE WORK OF OMBUDSMANS AS GUARANTEE OF THEIR INTEGRITY

Abstract

Although we are in the 21^st century, recognizing and defining human rights, as well as their protection, are still ongoing processes. Debate whether it is better to be liberal or traditional state is also alive, since traditional approach automatically implies a weaker recognition of human rights, often unequal relations between men and women, valuing people according to their property status or origin, which is all unthinkable in a liberal democratic society that rests on completely different premises. But even there the question remains - how many human rights are enough and whether there is a "sufficient amount" of human rights at all, enough to establish peace in society and meet everyone's needs and dreams.

That is why the institution of protector of citizens' rights( or else- Ombudsman) is important. Since its establishment in the early 19th century in Sweden, the institution of Ombudsman-Protector of the citizens' rights has gone through different stages of development in different countries. It exists for more than two centuries, but there are still a lot of prejudices about the way ombudsman works and what exactly works ,what are the limits of its acting, and also, what true power this institution has.

In this paper the author will deal with two crucial principles of ombudsman's work- independence and autonomy, since it seems that those principles are the hardest to explain and also to achieve in practise. The significance of this is greater having in mind that Republic of Serbia is one of the few countries in the world that has ombudsmans at all three levels of government - republican, provincial and local, where there is no and should never be a hierarchical connection between these institutions. Every ombudsman work on specific territorial level, controlling the work of executive bodies and other state institutions on that specific territorial level.