COP colloquium

The main job of omudspersons is to communicate respectfully with people, both those who have a need to turn to someone independent and those who are identified as perpetrators of unethical behaviour. At the same time, this direct work leads to dilemmas that cannot be overcome by referring to the basic principles of our work, such as credibility, neutrality or informality. Challenging incentives also place high demands on ombudsmen to choose appropriate procedures, interventions and maintain professional perspective. 

The Colloquium programme aims to offer a broader range of possible insights into the notifications addressed and the variety of approaches that should be considered in the ombudsman agenda. A separate and important topic is contractingwhich determines how the ombudsman enters the process, how the contract is negotiated and helps set realistic goals for all parties involved. Consequently, we would like to outline three principles that can assist ombudsmen in thinking about the notifications made to them and the appropriate resolution procedures. 

The first is the so-called. victim-centred approach, a principle applied in the helping professions when working with traumatised persons and victims, where the traumatised person/victim is at the forefront and the emphasis is on a respectful approach to her/him and the guarantee of primary trust in what they share. As a possible further inspiration, we offer an approximation of the principles of restorative justicewhich seeks to break down rigid patterns of conflict resolution, such as the unforgiving division between victims and perpetrators or the insistence on punishment as the only effective solution. Dialogue, the possibility of reflecting on one's own actions and the possibility of making amends and continuing to work together are in fact ways that we as ombudspersons often also seek. The third phenomenon is triangle of interdependence, or also the so-called dramatic triangle, which shapes the participants in the action into an imaginary triad "victim - aggressor - rescuer", sometimes becoming a Bermuda Triangle and can be a trap for the ombudsman himself. 

We believe that the programme of the Colloquium will be varied, enriching with new knowledge for practice and creating space for mutual discussion, which often results in further dilemmas and questions.