D. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES

D. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES Introduction 1. Ombudsman promotion and Abused minor protection project in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.1. Bosnian delegation makes study visit to Barcelona 1.2. Working session in the Bosnian municipality of Vlasic 2. Project to establish free legal aid in Serbia 2.1. Results of free legal aid implementation in Serbia 2.2. Free legal aid project in Vojvodina 3. Collaboration agreement with the OSCE to support the Serbian Ombudsman 4. Mission to Jordan and Jordanian delegation study visit to Barcelona 5. Promotion of a collaboration project with the Ombudsman of Senegal 6. Participation in activities organized by other institutions 6.1. Vienna Meeting on Combating Sexual Exploitation 6.2. Belgrade Conference on Free Legal Aid 6.3. Seminar on Legality and Good Governance in 1

Introduction Since 1999, the Catalan Ombudsman of Catalonia has been devoting part of his staff and budget to carrying out international cooperation projects, as part of his aim to contribute to building a safer, fairer international community characterized by solidarity. This economic contribution has progressively grown to its current level of over 0.7% of the annual budget. Furthermore, the Catalan Ombudsman has access to resources from the Catalan Development Cooperation Agency (ACCD), the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and other international bodies that co-finance Síndic projects. The Catalan Ombudsman and the ACCD have been working on a project in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2005, which has continued through 2007. It consists of encouraging the development and signing of an action protocol in cases of minor abuse. Several joint actions, to be discussed hereafter, have been launched since the ratification of a framework collaboration agreement between the Síndic and ACCD in September 2006. Throughout 2007, the Catalan Ombudsman has continued to develop the free legal aid project in Serbia. It was begun in November 2004, with most of its financing coming from the AECI. A report on the program was given at the results conference held June 14 in Belgrade. The project was officially concluded with this event. Two new projects were also launched at year-end: the institutionalization of free legal aid in the autonomous region of Vojvodina, Serbia, and a program to support the Ombudsman of Serbia, of recent establishment. As a leading institution in cooperation projects, the Catalan Ombudsman has a staff charged with implementing them. It is made up of two cooperation project coordinators (Judit Salas, International Relations and Cooperation Officer of the institution, and an external specialist, Arantxa Díaz) and two assistants who work on the ground (Jasmina Nikolic in Serbia, and Amela Vezic in Bosnia and Herzegovina), both of whom are citizens of the respective countries. Depending on the issue at hand, the Catalan Ombudsman s executive or advisory staff members, or those of other institutions, such as members of the Catalan Autonomous Ministry of Justice, for the Bosnian project, or the Council of Catalan Bar Associations in the case of the project in Serbia, may travel to the Balkans themselves. The Síndic has implemented two new projects in Serbia: the institutionalization of free legal aid in Vojvodina and a program of support for the Serbian Ombudsman. In addition to these projects of his own, the Catalan Ombudsman took part in a Vienna meeting on combating child sexual exploitation organized by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), an international conference in Belgrade on free legal aid, organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a seminar in Sofia held by the Ombudsman of Bulgaria and the Ombudsman of Greece on legality and good governance. Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó also took part in a mission to Jordan to further the creation of an Ombudsman s Office in that country. As part of the same effort, a delegation of Jordanian judges visited the Síndic s Barcelona headquarters. Lastly, the Síndic took the opportunity of an AOMF (Association des Ombudsmans et Médiateurs de la Francophonie), held in December in Bamako (Mali) to promote a cooperation project with the Ombudsman of Senegal, together with the Ombudsmen of Wallonia and Luxembourg. The cooperation activities carried out in 2007 are described hereafter. 3

1. Ombudsman promotion and Abused minor protection project in Bosnia and Herzegovina On March 14, 2005, the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation and the Catalan Ombudsman formalized a collaboration agreement. Under its aegis, they were to carry out a cooperation project in Bosnia and Herzegovina co-financed by the two institutions and entitled: Promotion of the Ombudsman in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Driver for Improvement in the Justice Administration. The Balkan Human Rights Network is an NGO with a regional scope of activity. Its secretariat is located in Sarajevo, and acts as the project s local counterparty. It has made available to the Catalan Ombudsman a local assistant, who is responsible for administrative tasks and translations, working under the supervision of the project s coordinators. As discussed in the 2005 and 2006 Reports to Parliament, the project calls for two specific actions geared toward creating permanent, institutional communication channels among the institutions of the Ombudsman, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to other bodies involved in the protection of abused minors. Action 1 of the project, aimed at facilitating discussion and the application of the Ombudsman s recommendations for the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, culminated in the formalization in 2005 of a collaboration agreement between the Ombudsman institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that country s General Council of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. A delegation from the Catalan Ombudsman, the Parliament of Catalonia and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation was on hand for the signing ceremony. Following completion of the project s first action, 2006 was devoted to the second. This work has continued in 2007. The project s Action 2 is meant to coordinate the activities of all organizations involved in prevention and investigation of minor abuse, so that only strictly necessary actions are carried out, thus avoiding any worsening of the minor s delicate emotional situation and victimization. The instrument by which this goal is sought is the development and formalization of a basic action protocol for cases of minor abuse. The Catalan Ombudsman has promoted the formalization of such protocols in Catalonia. After a commitment for institutional support and involvement e.g. from the competent ministries in each territorial unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republica Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the state level in 2006, 2007 saw continued development of the remaining planned activities. 1.1. Bosnian delegation makes study visit to Barcelona A Bosnian delegation made a study visit to Barcelona from July 11-15 with a two-fold objective: that the working group responsible for drafting the Framework Protocol in cases of minor abuse in Bosnia and Herzegovina deepen their knowledge on the development and application of like protocols in Catalonia, and that the general principles and essential content of the Framework Protocol for Bosnia and Herzegovina be established as it resulted from the debate between Bosnian and Catalan experts. A total of fifteen representatives from the competent ministries (education, health, social services, interior, justice, etc.), took part in the working sessions in Barcelona. These were also attended by envoys from the judiciary, Prosecutor s Office and Ombudsman offices, all of them as members of the Protocol drafting work group. The work program of the visit included sessions on the development and application of the protocols in Catalonia and the analysis of Bosnian institutions proposals as compared and contrasted with the Framework Protocol of Catalonia. It concluded with debate on drafting of the Protocol for Bosnia and Herzegovina. An active role was taken by the project s coordinators; Xavier Bonal, Deputy Catalan Ombudsman for the Defence of Children s 4

Rights; Montse Cusó, Catalan Ombudsman s advisor on children s affairs and two experts from the Generalitat of Catalonia: Joaquim Asso, representative of Catalan Autonomous Ministry of Justice; and Jordi Muner, representative of the Catalan Autonomous Ministry of Social and Citizen Action of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia. The working group responsible for drafting the Framework Protocol for Minor Abuse in Bosnia and Herzegovina made a study visit to Barcelona The Bosnian delegation also visited the Catalan Autonomous Ministry of Social and Citizen Action, where they held a discussion with Xavier Soley and Joan Mayoral, executive director and deputy executive director respectively, of Child and Adolescent Services. Simultaneous visits (in two groups) were also made to the Talaia and CAUI minors shelters. The study visit ended with a conclusions session to reach a consensus on the next steps to take within the project, until the Framework Protocol is signed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Arantxa Díaz and Judit Salas proposed setting up a Protocol drafting subcommittee from among the members of the working group. This sub-committee would be responsible for producing an initial draft of the Protocol by October, 2007. The proposal also named the four working group members who, in the project coordinators opinion, should form part of the aforementioned subcommittee: the representatives of the General Council of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the Federal Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Republica Srpska. The criteria followed in selecting these members was, on one hand, to ensure the presence of the two state institutions of the working group, especially given that the judiciary had to be represented and the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees is responsible for designing the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Plan of Action for Children; and on the other, guarantee that the organizations with competencies in child protection were also represented, while also achieving a mixed composition between the Bosnian State and its territorial units. The proposal was accepted by all of its members. 1.2. Working session in the Bosnian municipality of Vlasic The project s coordinators and Montse Cusó met in Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 16. The members of the Bosnian working group were on hand with the aim of analyzing the Framework Protocol draft proposals developed by the drafting subcommittee during the study visit to Barcelona. The encounter took place in Vlasic, a municipality located halfway between Sarajevo and Banja Luka, capitals of Bosnia s two territorial units and hometowns of the working group members. The draft of the Framework Protocol was debated line by line, and consensus was reached on a near-final version, only requiring completion of some points by the drafting sub-committee, in accordance with the directives also agreed on in Vlasic. By year end, the drafting sub-committee had sent its proposal to the project coordinators, who are now working to systematize the information and distribute it to all working group members with the intention of preparing the final version. The next step will be the preparation of the signature and dissemination of the Framework Protocol in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2. Project to establish free legal aid in Serbia This project, begun in November, 2004, with most of the financing coming from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) was definitely consolidated in 2006, and in 2007 5

culminated with the presentation of the results achieved in two years work. The project consists of establishing free legal advice and in-court representation services in several Serbian municipalities with an aim to implement the model institutionally throughout Serbia. To do so, two ambits are addressed: the extension of the system throughout Serbian territory and the sensitization of Serbian authorities (the executive and legislative branches) with a view to future constitutional and legal recognition of this free legal aid model. The importance of this project is that it is the only one to institutionalize free legal aid with tangible results. The project s aim is for judicial protection to become a real, effective right for Serbia s most economically challenged citizens. Thus, access to justice in conditions of equality for all citizens, regardless of their financial resources, is guaranteed. The Catalan Ombudsman has worked in collaboration with the General Council of Catalan Bar Associations to provide Serbian institutions with the prior training necessary to implement a free legal aid system, and is conducting follow-up on it once it is established in every municipality. Furthermore, the Catalan Ombudsman works in collaboration with the AECI, to finance the project activities (training seminars and workshops, initial rendering of free legal aid services, etc.). The collaboration of the General Council of Catalan Bar Associations has been made possible by Miquel Puiggalí, attorney and in-court representation coordinator, who has participated as a lecturer in several activities held in Serbia and Catalonia since 2005. This system of free legal aid established through the project is based on the Spanish model and consists of a legal advice service in which free advice and incourt representation are available to all citizens needing them. In other words, this is a public service financed by the Administration consisting of appointing an attorney to represent the citizen in court, for the defence of the rights of individuals lacking financial resources to cover the cost, once the citizen accredits his or her lack of economic solvency. Thus, the system is characterized by its conception of free legal aid as a public service, provided by attorneys and financed by the Public Administration. As outlined in the 2006 Report to Parliament, over this and the prior year, agreements have been formalized with Serbian institutions to allow establishment of legal advice services in seven municipalities. Thus, the municipalities of Pancevo, Zrenjanin, Prokuplje, Lebane, Vlasotince and Belgrade joined the system that had been begun in 2003 in Nis, following the pilot project in which the Catalan Ombudsman was one of the directing organizations. The Legal Advice Office was opened in Belgrade in 2007, by virtue of an agreement signed in November 2006, and following a training seminar and a civic informative campaign conducted in December 2006. The Belgrade legal advice service began operations on February 1. The Belgrade Bar Association held a training session on in-court representation in July. Shortly afterwards, a civic information campaign on the advent of this service was launched on September 1. September also saw the debut of in-court representation in Prokuplje, Lebane and Vlasotince. The legal advice service had already begun in the last quarter of 2006. The balance of the project was also offered at the results presentation conference held in June in Belgrade. This event marked the conclusion of the project, and is described in the following section. Last, the project s coordinators have held meetings with the leadership of the Secretariat for Justice Reform Strategy Implementation, the Serbian Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the objective of exchanging information on the progress of the project and the legislative development for the recognition of free legal aid in the Serbian legal system. 2.1. Results of the implementation of free legal aid in Serbia 6

The results of the Free Legal Aid Project were presented in Belgrade on June 14. The project began in November, 2004 and was participated in by the National Office of the President of the Republic of Serbia, the local councils of Nis (Medijana, Pantelej, Palilula), Pancevo, Sabac, Zrenjanin, Prokuplje, Lebane and Vlasotince, Novi Beograd and the bar associations of Nis, Vojvodina, Sabac, Belgrade and Serbia. The opening ceremony was conducted by the Director of the Presidential People s Office, Tatjana Pasic, and the Spanish ambassador to Serbia, José Riera Siquier. Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó, the Vicedean of the Serbian Bar Association, Dejan Ciric, and the mayor of Novi Beograd and president of the Permanent Conference of Cities and Municipalities, Zeljko Ozegovic, all participated as speakers. Rafael Ribó gave a presentation on the project, its objectives and the landmarks achieved. Dejan Ciric and Zeljko Ozegovic discussed the roles of attorneys and the local administration, respectively, in the project. These are the two pillars that sustain the project. The Catalan delegation that travelled to Serbia was made up, aside from the Catalan Ombudsman, by the project s two coordinators, Arantxa Díaz and Judit Salas and by Miquel Puiggalí, from the Council of Catalan Bar Associations, given this institution s collaboration in the project. The event was attended by approximately one hundred people, among them attorneys, judges, prosecutors, senior officials and representatives of international organizations. It was also broadly covered by the Serbian media. Statistics were given on the legal advice and in-court representation services currently offered in Serbia as a result of the project. Given the link of the Nis pilot project with this one, statistics were also given on the free legal aid offered in Nis since 2003. With the figures updated to April 30, 2007, over 16,000 persons have benefited from free legal aid since the service began to be established in 2003. Of the 16,359 beneficiaries, 15,461 received legal advice, and 898, in-court representation. The most frequent users of the service are the unemployed and pensioners. Rafael Ribó presented the results of free legal aid project in Belgrade The statistics, description, objective and scope of the project were taken up in an informative journal also presented during the conference. The magazine has been published in Catalan, Spanish, Serbian and English, and has been widely distributed. The results achieved show that the participating local councils have established a comprehensive, coordinated, consistent and economically sustainable model that ensures that the Public Administration fulfils its international obligations on the right to equal access to justice, a requisite to enter the EU. They also confirm that it is a viable and sustainable model; following initial financing by the Catalan Ombudsman, the legal advice and in-court representation services have become public services financed by the local councils and managed by the bar associations. Over 16,000 persons have benefited from free legal aid since the service began to be established in 2003. Last, it must be noted that the project provides much useful information on the legal regulation and the implementation throughout Serbia of a free legal aid system, as it is the only system that includes the legal advice as well as incourt representation services. For that reason, as stated in the 2006 Report to Parliament, the Catalan Ombudsman has worked with a working group of the Serbian Ministry of Justice charged with developing a draft bill on legal aid. 7

2.2. Free legal aid project in Vojvodina The project is conceived as a continuation of the aforedescribed, which was wrapped up in June 2007. Given that the working group of the Free Legal Aid Act of the Serbian Ministry of Justice has already developed a draft bill, that the Ministry of Justice has expressed its interest in the Catalan Ombudsman participating in the implementation strategy of the draft bill and future law, and that the Vojvodina Executive Council (government of this autonomous province of Serbia) is interested in taking responsibility for financing in-court representation throughout the territory of Vojvodina, pursuant to the model promoted by the Catalan Ombudsman, the project s coordinators have defined a second phase, with the title: Institutionalization of free legal aid in Serbia, particularly Vojvodina. Work on the project launch has been underway since June 2007. In fact, Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó, was hosted in the Parliament of Vojvodina on June 13 to speak on the development of the project with the institutions involved. The project has funding from the ACCD (Catalan Development Cooperation Agency) and the AECI (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation). The general goal of the project is to strengthen effective judicial protection of the citizens of Serbia. The more specific aim is the institutionalization of free legal aid in Serbia and, particularly, Vojvodina. The project establishes two lines of work: the establishment of legal advice and incourt representation service in the entire territory of the autonomous province of Vojvodina and the contribution to the institutionalization of free legal aid in the territory of Serbia through the support of the executive and legislative branches and other competent institutions. As regards the first line of work, this action entails two major improvements over the prior project: the assumption of the responsibility for financing by the Administration of the Autonomous Province (and no longer the municipal administration) and extension of the services to the province s entire territory. It is also compatible with the regulations now in force and the future law (considering the terms in which the recently-presented draft bill is written). The draft bill calls for the partial maintenance of the current legal advice services, which allow the local councils to establish legal advice services at their discretion. In some municipalities, the service is rendered by municipal civil servants. Therefore, aside from the Catalan Ombudsman establishing legal advice services provided by the bar associations (understanding that this guarantees the quality of the service) in the municipalities where none exist, municipal legal advice services already exist in other municipalities. According to the draft bill, legal advice will be provided by the existing municipal services as well as bar associations, among others. With regard to in-court representation, the draft bill specifies that only bar associations may cover these duties. With this action in Vojvodina, the Catalan Ombudsman, with the ACCD and AECI, is assuming the partial financing of the incourt representation, as the Executive Council of Vojvodina is the project cofinancier. Specifically, AECI and ACCD finance in equal shares the first 1,000 incourt representation cases. The next 1,000 cases will be financed by the Executive Council of Vojvodina. With regard to legal advice, the Catalan Ombudsman is promoting the establishment of services or offices that will work alongside the existing ones, with the objective of sufficiently covering the territory of Vojvodina. These legal advice services will always be financed by the respective local councils. The Catalan Ombudsman, with the ACCD and AECI, assumes partial financing of in-court representation, as the Executive Council of Vojvodina is the project co-financier 8

The overarching goal of this action is to show that the model promoted up to now in different parts of Serbia, and extrapolated later to Vojvodina, can work as a comprehensive system applied to a supramunicipal territory (Vojvodina), which is home to a third of Serbia s population. By proving that the model promoted by the Catalan Ombudsman is valid as a system applied to a supramunicipal territory, it also being proven, albeit on a smaller scale, that the system can work throughout Serbia. As for the second line of work contribution to the institutionalization in Serbian territory it should be highlighted that the Ministry of Justice, along with the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) have designed a strategy that covers the final approval of a law and the prior development of activities to test the various legal aid system proposals. Given that the strategy document discusses the work done by the Síndic de Greuges in this realm, and that the recent draft bill is based on the Spanish model, especially where in-court representation is concerned, the Catalan Ombudsman can promote the system that has already borne some fruits in Serbia while also advising the competent institutions on the design of the system best suited to Serbia. In a meeting held October 4 in the Vojvodina Parliament, and attended by 30 representatives of local councils, the coordinators presented their project to Vojvodina s local administrations. Once the local councils interested in participating in the project, either by opening legal advice services based on the Spanish model, or collaborating from existing services in processing the in-court representation cases, the Collaboration Agreement between the parties that would carry out the project (Catalan Ombudsman, Vojvodina Executive Council and the Bar Association of Vojvodina) was signed on December 20 in Novi Sad, capital of Vojvodina. An Annex to the agreement lists the participating local councils, which total 28. This number is expected to grow as the project is implemented. 3. Collaboration agreement with the OSCE to support the Ombudsman of Serbia The Catalan Ombudsman and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Mission to Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding, by which they agreed to carry out in 2008 activities to support the Ombudsman of Serbia, a recently-created institution. The Catalan Ombudsman and the OSCE had agreed to carry out this project long ago, but the constant deferral of the approval and appointment of the Serbian Ombudsman made it impossible to enact the agreement. The ACCD (Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation) is providing the funding necessary for the Síndic to participate in the project. The goal of the project is to support the establishment of the Ombudsman institution in Serbia, and once established, reinforce its independence, credibility and effectiveness through expert advising, study visits, advisors to the institution and a number of conferences. The Serbian Ombudsman Act came into force in September 2005, following ratification by the Parliament of Serbia. This culminated a long process of discussion and development, to which the OSCE and Catalan Ombudsman had contributed. Despite this, the Ombudsman of Serbia was not appointed until the end of 2007, and did not begin effective work, in a provisional headquarters, until the last quarter of 2007. The activities called for in the project are as follows: 1) study visit to Barcelona by the Ombudsman and his deputies; 2) study visit to Barcelona by the Ombudsman s advisor staff; 3) stay of an international expert in the Serbian Ombudsman s office for four months; 4) five conferences in Serbia to disseminate the role of the Ombudsman. 4. Mission to Jordan and study visit of a Jordanian delegation to Barcelona 9

Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó travelled to Jordan from January 26-28 as a member of the Board of Directors of the European Region of the IOI (International Ombudsman Institute) with the aim of advising in the process of establishing an Ombudsman, following a draft bill of the Jordanian government. During the course of his visit he had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the two houses of Parliament, the authorities of judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Public Sector Reform and the Ministry of Planning. A Jordanian delegation of two judges visited Catalonia on June 25-26, at the Catalan Ombudsman s invitation, to familiarize themselves with the judicial system, the work of the Catalan Ombudsman and his relationship with judiciary bodies. During their study visit, in addition to working sessions at the Catalan Ombudsman s headquarters, the delegation held meetings with leaders of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, the Catalan Autonomous Ministry of Justice and the Parliament of Catalonia, where they were given a private audience with the president of Parliament. These activities are meant to be the Catalan Ombudsman s contribution to the work begun by the Ombudsman of Denmark and that country s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to establish the Ombudsman institution in Jordan. 5. Promotion of a collaboration project with the Ombudsman of Senegal Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó participated in the 5th Congress and General Assembly of the AOMF (Association des Ombudsmans et Médiateurs de la Francophonie), held December 10-13 in Bamako (Mali) as a full member of the Association. The Síndic took the opportunity of the meeting to launch a collaboration project with the Ombudsman of Senegal. The project, which will get underway in 2008, will allow Senegalese Ombudsman staff to benefit from training trips to the institutions of Catalonia, Wallonia and Luxembourg. Three stays per year are planned, with the participation of two persons on each stay for one-week visits, in Catalonia, Luxembourg and Wallonia successively, with expenses being shared among the three institutions. During their time with the Catalan Ombudsman, under the guidance and supervision of an instructor, the Senegalese officers will have the chance to familiarize themselves with the organization and procedures of the Síndic de Greuges de Catalunya, as well as the different areas for processing complaints. The ACCD (Catalan Development Cooperation Agency) has expressed an interest in financing the stay of Senegalese delegates in Catalonia. 6. Participation in Activities Organized by Other Institutions 6.1. Meeting on Combating Sexual Exploitation of Children Xavier Bonal, Deputy to the Catalan Ombudsman for the Defence of Children s Rights, took part in the Meeting on Combating Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Vienna on October 18-19, and coorganized by the Spanish Presidency of the OSCE 2007 and the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE (ODIHR). The meeting focused on the factors such as vulnerability, the legislation and its application, including social protection and criminal law, as well as states responses and best practices. Nearly 100 representatives from the ministries of different countries, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations were on hand to participate. In parallel to the planned meeting program, Xavier Bonal gave a special presentation on the development of the Framework Protocol for Minor Abuse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the Catalan experience in Catalonia. Xavier Bonal was invited by the Spanish Presidency of the OSCE to present the project that the Síndic is conducting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the details of which can be found in section 1 of this chapter. 10

6.2. Conference on Free Legal Aid in Belgrade Arantxa Díaz, one of the Catalan Ombudsman s two cooperation project coordinators, took part in the conference held in Belgrade on June 28-29 by the Serbian Ministry of Justice and the UNDP entitled: Establishment of an effective and sustainable free legal aid system in Serbia. 6.3. Seminar on Legality and Good Governance in Sofia Síndic advisor Dani Ruiz took part in a seminar devoted to Ombudsman intervention in the realm of legality and governance, held in Sofia on September 17-18. 11