David Bondia: "The role of the Ombudsman in mediations like that of Casa Orsola is crucial"

BarcelonaDavid Bondia (Barcelona, 1969) has been the Ombudsman of Barcelona since 2021. A professor of international law and an expert in human rights, he is now running for re-election for a second term in which he wants to consolidate the work done so far. A race in which he competes with Gemma Calvet.

What should be the role of an Ombudsman of Barcelona?

— Supervise and oversee the Barcelona City Council and collaborate on innovative proposals in public policies.

What do you think makes you a better candidate?

— The experience and the program, which has five years of accumulated knowledge and is innovative. It is a project of the present and the future, not of the past.

How has the ombudsman's office changed in the last five years?

— We work for proximity human rights. We are no one to decide on tourism, but we can talk about how tourism affects proximity human rights in issues such as public space, housing, and mobility. Furthermore, we do not limit ourselves to complaints and ex officio actions, but we have applied many types of intervention: mediations, opinions, working groups...

What would be your main priorities for the upcoming term?

— Consolidate this ombudsman project and achieve an improvement in human rights guarantee issues for society.

One of the debates where you have wanted to play a role is in that of homelessness. What can be done?

— We have the mayor's approval to carry out the pilot test of our Zero Street program, which seeks to work collaboratively and innovatively to empower homeless people.

Can this plan be carried out regardless of who the next registrar is?

— Yes. It is a project of the Ombudsman's Office. One of the best things I did when I arrived here was to change the name of the entity and talk about the Ombudsman's Office, not about the ombudsman. This is teamwork.

In the case of housing, what role can the Ombudsman play?

— Housing policies are decided by the government, but we can work for a better management of public housing. And also with mediations like the one in Vallcarca and Casa Orsola, or the one we are doing now with the Papallona and Sant Agustí blocks. When something gets complicated, the role of the Ombudsman's Office is crucial.

At what point is the mediation between Papallona and Sant Agustí?

— Until now there was no way to understand each other and now we are meeting periodically with the fund, the City Council and the Generalitat. Proposals have been exchanged and are being studied. And the tenant and housing unions are informed of all this.

Was the outcome of Casa Orsola a good solution?

— It is not up to me to assess the solution. I was there making the effort to bring the City Council and the property together at a table. The agreement was channeled through the Sindicatura, but it was an agreement between the parties. But then you see that people from Vallcarca have gone to Casa Orsola and you see the sense of recovering public housing for people in vulnerable situations.

In their program there is the creation of a mediation office. What would it consist of?

— We are 14 people, only. We need to expand the team and have specialists in mediation issues and good coordination of this team.

Another important problem in the city is insecurity. What can be done about it from the Ombudsman's Office?

— We would like to carry out an official action on the issue of insecurity and the perception of security. We must let the Guardia Urbana and the Mossos do their job.

One of the slogans of his campaign is to defend the right to live well in the city. What does that mean?

— To be well in the city is not just to stay there for the sake of staying, it is to feel comfortable there. That you are not expelled from your neighborhood, that you have the right to housing and that you can enjoy all the rights around the city.

Does the Audit Office have independence when working?

— Total. For me, independence comes from never having been affiliated with any political party.

Emphasize the role of artificial intelligence. In what sense?

— We must look at the positive aspects and fix the negative ones of artificial intelligence. We have a European project that uses AI tools to help the participation of groups that never participate.

Has done enough to reach all the neighborhoods?

— I find it funny that they say no. We have visited the neighborhoods of Barcelona two or three times to make ourselves known and also to see what the situation is.

And has it had a feminist perspective?

— We have prepared a report on sexual violence care services and created the reparation commission for children who are victims of abuse at Escola Barcelona. We are also a "punto lila" in the Sant Antoni neighborhood. The entire team has been trained to support women who suffer from male violence.