22 April 2010

Parliament swears-in Ombudsman Ximenes and his two deputies

Diario Nacional April 15, 2010 language source: Tetun - The National Parliament Wednesday swore-in Sebastiao Dias Ximenes and his two Deputies Silveiro Baptista Pinto and Rui dos Santos Pereira to be Ombudsmen of Human Rights and Justice.

For Ximenes, the swear-in marked his second term in the office, as it did for Pinto but for Pereira it will be his first term.

In his speech, Ximenes said that though there are challenges facing the provedor (ombudsman) of human rights and justice, his team has commitment and good will to serve the people of Timor-Leste in the areas of good governance and human rights.

“We will continue our works based on our established plans and programs and we are aware that the challenges ahead are huge but we have commitment and good will to serve the people,” he said.

He said that in his second term, he would focus on institutional capacity building of the PDHJ, capacity building for its staff, including developing relevant programs in the areas of human rights and good governance.

Based on the Law No. 7/2004, the office of Ombudsman of Human Rights and Justice is mandated to monitor, investigate and educate the public in the areas of promotion and protection of human rights and good governance.

Speaker of the National Parliament, Fernando La Sama de Araujo, said that the Parliament supported the works of the office of Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice to be an independent institution which carries out its works with responsibility and integrity.

La Sama also added the in the future PDHJ can rely on the support of the National Parliament.

“We believe that there is no institution which wants to be successful without support from other institutions, especially state organ institutions,” said La Sama.

MP Fernanda Borges from PUN said that PDHJ should support the National Parliament to improve the law on the ombudsman itself.

With the swearing-in ceremony, Pinto is still in charge of deputy of Ombudsman for Human Rights whereas Pereira will be in charge of good governance and corruption.

They will be in the office for four years, which is until 2014.

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