2023-10-15 06:37:00
Ombudsmen are your contacts to report problems with public services or private companies. After Flanders, they were in Brussels this Saturday, to meet citizens and explain how they can be useful.
Catherine has been a mediator for 16 years. Its job is to help citizens find solutions when they have a dispute with a public or private service. “We will analyze their file. We will first ask them to explain, to give us the documents they have. And then, we will contact the administration to complete our information. Then we’ll see if we can find a solution to the problem.“, she explains.
There are around thirty mediators in Belgium. Each year, they handle no less than 100,000 complaints. However, few citizens know regarding them.
When we are in difficulty, we don’t know who to turn to.
This Saturday, the major communication campaign stopped in Brussels. The ombudsmen were there to present their profession and their services to the population. “This is the first time I discovered them.“, a passer-by confided to us. “I walked over to them to ask questions. When we are in difficulty, we don’t know who to turn to.“, she adds.
Mediators work for free and are open to everyone. Every day, they try to rebalance the balance of power between the citizen and the administration. They operate in many sectors:Telecommunications, energy, postal services, rail, but also insurance, banks,…“, lists Marc Bertrand, president of the Belgian network ombudsman.be. He adds: “The success rate varies, it can be estimated between 60 and 70%“.
This is an alternative to legal recourse. The work of mediators also makes it possible to modify and adapt the law, if the authorities follow the recommendations.
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