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Rafael Ribó met with Polish authorities to support the Ombudsman and democracy in Poland

03/08/2016

As President of IOI Europe, Ombudsman Rafael Ribó has headed a delegation to Warsaw to support the Polish Ombudsman. The institution is in a difficult situation caused by the policies exhibited by the Polish government, which jeopardize the fulfilment of human rights, the independence of the Ombudsman and democratic principles.

Rafael Ribó and other members of the delegation have met with members of IOI Government, the presidents of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, the President and members of the National Judicial Council, and the leader of the democratic platform KOD, who headed the mass demonstrations in favour of democracy.

They also met with various NGOs working in the field of human rights, transparency and gender equality, with representatives of the media and with the delegation of ODIHR / OSCE in Poland.

The Catalan Ombudsman stressed its commitment to support its Polish counterpart, showed under the Barcelona international seminar on the challenges of human rights, which took place last April. "We must ensure, he said, that an institution of ombudsman is truly independent, has resources and is not subject to budget cuts silencers."

In this regard, the delegation of the IOI has noted Poland’s progressive distancing of European democratic standards and it has expressed its agreement with the position of the European Commission, which has activated in this case Article 7 of the Treaties; the Council of Europe, and the reports of the European Commissioner for Human Rights and the Venice Commission.

Besides the Catalan Ombudsman, the delegation consisted of Peter Tyndall, Ombudsman of Ireland and Second Vice President of the IOI; German kraut, Ombudsman of Austria and Secretary General of the IOI; Ule Madisse, ombudsman of Estonia and member of the Board; Ulri Grieshofer executive director, and Judith Macaya, Head Secretariat of the IOI Europe .

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