Ombudsmen caution Amsterdam council: external review could threaten independence

The ombudsmen of Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht warn in a letter to the Amsterdam city council that an external review of the widely discussed Amsterdam ombudsman report on integrity complaints would be ill-advised. Such a move could create an unprecedented precedent, potentially threatening the independence and core principles of accountability, they say.

Amsterdam ombudsman Munish Ramlal has voiced his opposition to an external review. In a letter to the city council following last week’s committee meeting on his report Melden in vertrouwen, he warned that having his report examined by an outside expert would be highly damaging to the office of the ombudsman. He called on the council to safeguard the integrity of the ombudsman’s position.

The report, published Thursday, criticizes the Bureau Integriteit, responsible for handling social safety reports in the municipality.

The city has responded with its own criticism, mainly targeting the report’s methodology. “Making general statements about an organization requires thorough research, and this is where the report falls short,” Mayor Femke Halsema said during the committee meeting.

Ramlal emphasized that the investigation was carried out “with integrity and in good faith.” He added that it was personally painful and upsetting for him and his colleagues that Mayor Halsema suggested during the meeting that there were concerns about his performance and the quality of his work.

Halsema told the city council’s executive board last month that Ramlal “behaves unpredictably as a discussion partner” and voiced concerns “about future collaboration with the ombudsman.”