What an ombudsman is and does
Public sector ombudsman
The Ombudsman is an independent, impartial public official with authority and responsibility to receive, investigate or informally address the complaints of ordinary citizens about the actions or maladministration of certain public bodies (government departments and institutions), and, when appropriate, make findings and recommendations, and publish reports.
Ombudsman type offices exist in approximately 120 countries, of which 27 are in Africa.
The word ‘ombudsman' comes from the Old Norse (Scandanavian) word umbodhsmadhr, which meaning deputy or agent (thefreedictionary.com).
It does not, as it may appear to English speakers, refer only to a male: There are and have been numerous women worldwide performing the ombudsman role.
Some countries use names other than ombudsman to describe the function. French speaking countries use the terms Médiateur de la République (e.g. France, Gabon, Mauritania and Senegal) or Protecteur du Citoyen (Québec, Canada). Portugal has the Provedor de Justiça and Italy the Difensore Civico.
A variety of terms are used by other African Countries, including Public Protector (South Africa), Public Complaints Commission (Nigeria) and Investigator-General (Zambia).
History & development
Amongst the early Germanic tribes, the ombudsman was a person who had the role of recovering compensation from the family of a wrongdoer on behalf of the family affected by a wrongdoing. Similar mediatory roles were and still are performed by individuals in communities in Africa (see Dispute resolution in Africa).
In 1809, Sweden created the first statutory ombudsman, the Riksdagens Justitieombudsman (the Parliamentary Commissioner for Justice). The ombudsman concept slowly caught on internationally and in the second half of the 20th century it spread worldwide. Ombudsmen are now present at a national level of government in approximately 120 countries.
Further reading
Cameron Rowat 'The Ombudsman Plan: Essays on the Worldwide Spread of an Idea' (1986) Canadian Journal of Political Science vol 19, No 4 883.
International Ombudsman Institute website
http://www.law.ualberta.ca/centres/ioi
The Office of the High Commissioner website
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs19.htm
Roy Gregory and Philip Giddings 'The Ombudsman Institution: Growth and Development' in: Roy Gregory and Philip Giddings (eds) Righting Wrongs: The Ombudsman in Six Continents (2000).
Dispute resolution in Africa
Traditional forms of dispute resolution have long existed in Africa. For instance, the Ethiopians have the term "Emba Tebaki' (‘Keeper of the People's Tears') which is now applied to an ombudsman, and in the Zulu culture of South Africa, the term ‘Lomxazululi' means ‘Solver of Problems'. This word is likewise used to describe an ombudsman.
It has been suggested that the alternative dispute resolution movement that has recently developed in modern societies is a return to the simple dispute resolution models used in the past and in modern non-Western societies.
Further reading
Elisabetta Grande ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution, Africa and the Structure of Law and Power: The Horn in Context' (1999) Journal of African Law, Vol. 43, No. 1.
