issued an instruction that no restrictions should be placed on the Ombudsperson's access to anyone in detention in Kosovo.
Overview of cases
During the reporting period, approximately 2500 people contacted the Ombudsperson Institution for advice and assistance or to lodge formal complaints. Roughly half contacted staff from the Pristina office, including a number of individuals who met with representatives of the Institution during the May 2002 visit of representatives of the Institution to Serbia.
Since the inauguration of the Ombudsperson Institution on 21 November 2000, 590 formal applications have been lodged. Also since the opening of the Institution, the Ombudsperson has opened twenty-four ex officio investigations. Most cases investigated by the Ombudsperson Institution concern property issues (governmental takings of or damage to property, difficulties in gaining access to property, etc.), employment issues (recruitment practices, unjust dismissals, etc.), fair trial issues (lack of access to court, undue delays in civil proceedings, etc.) or impunity issues (governmental failures to investigate or prosecute crimes, etc.)(see Annex 1).
Of the individual applications that have been lodged with the Ombudsperson Institution since its inauguration, the Ombudsperson has rejected 55% on the grounds either that he does not have jurisdiction to investigate the complaints raised or on similar formal grounds. He also closed eighteen cases on the grounds that the problems raised had been resolved and twenty on the grounds that the applicants were no longer interested in pursuing their complaints.
From 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002, the Ombudsperson issued two Special Reports, eight final reports in individual cases and nine final reports in ex officio investigations (See Annex 3). During the reporting period, the Ombudsperson made eleven requests for governmental authorities to take interim measures. He considers that two of these requests were successful, two were partly successful and seven were not successful (see Annex 2).
Expansion of activities
The first full year of operations of the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo saw an expansion of activities focused towards the full implementation of the mandate of the Institution. In addition to providing better access to individual applicants outside Prishtine/Pristina (see above), the Ombudsperson also introduced new working methods to better address all matters falling within his mandate. In particular, the Ombudsperson increased his contacts with the authorities on behalf of individuals or groups facing difficulties amenable to resolution without the need for extensive formal investigations. (See Annex 4).
In late summer 2001, the Ombudsperson was instrumental in negotiating with Serbian prisoners conducting a hunger strike in Mitrovice/Mitrovica Detention Centre. In similar circumstances in spring 2002, however, the UNMIK authorities denied him access to Albanian prisoners conducting a hunger strike in Dubrava Prison, in direct contravention of UNMIK Regulation 2000/38 (see above).
Over the course of the reporting period, the Ombudsperson helped both to establish contacts and to facilitate communications between members of different ethnic communities in
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