Confidentiality, informality, independence, neutrality and impartiality are the working principles of the Ombud and I have shared with you in a number of articles[2] my experience in putting these principles into practice.

With significant experience today  in the role of CERN Ombud, I would like to come back to neutrality and impartiality and propose a somewhat different view of how these principles are embedded in my Ombud’s practice.

The Ombud is a designated neutral, which means that the Ombud does not engage in any situation that would create a conflict of interest. This is largely made possible and supported by the Ombud’s independence.

Impartiality, on the other hand, refers to an absence of bias. It relates directly to not favouring one side’s interests over the other side’s interests.

The requirement to remain impartial does not force ombuds to refrain from having personal opinions or from sympathising more with one party over another. Instead, this principle prompts ombuds to avoid acting on those preferences and requires them to separate their personal opinions from the performance of their duties.

When I took on the role of Ombud, I found the principle of impartiality to be the most challenging one. Not only are we, as human beings, wired to take sides, but the very idea of not choosing sides often raises suspicion. In addition, it seemed to me that impartiality asked me to disengage from the parties and to maintain a solid wall between myself and them.

Recently, I discovered that being engaged and simultaneously maintaining an equidistant stance between the parties has a name: multi-partiality. And I feel very comfortable with this concept. Rather than not favouring anyone, being multi-partial means that I favour everyone equally and I engage – with my intellect, emotions, energy, knowledge and skills – equally with everyone.

In the vast majority of the conflicts that my visitors share with me, I hear only their perception of the situation, as I rarely meet the other party.

However, it may also happen that both parties in a conflict come, independently, to discuss the situation with me, without either of them being aware that I have access to the other side of the story.  

These situations are prime opportunities for the Ombud to exercise multi-partiality to the full. It is amazing to see how the same situation may be described differently by two parties. The two situations exposed may only intersect – at best – with a few facts, as not all factual information is retained by one party. The feelings, the emotions that one party shares are completely misunderstood by the other party.  Words are interpreted differently, intentions are misunderstood.  And the impact that the situation has on the other party is totally ignored.

When parties in a conflict have agreed to engage in a mediation with the Ombud, they often realise how differently they have experienced a situation and how their own anger, bitterness and perplexity have arisen from this misunderstanding.

My personal biases come from my experience, history and character. Impartiality, defined as the absence of bias, may be very challenging to exercise. For example, I may be instantly triggered by sexist remarks or blunt bad faith.

Multi-partiality, however, allows me to engage fully with each party while maintaining an equidistant stance between them.

At this time of the year, I would like to thank you, readers, for your interest in the Ombud’s corner.  I wish you all a very relaxing end of the year break with your dear ones and look forward to exchanging with you in 2024 with renewed energy!

I would like also to mention that, with my upcoming retirement in spring next year, a vacancy notice for the Ombud’s position has been published. If you are interested and would like to discuss the role with me, you are most welcome to contact me!

Laure Esteveny

I would like to hear your reactions and suggestions – join the CERN Ombud Mattermost team at https://mattermost.web.cern.ch/cern-ombud/.

More information on the role of the CERN Ombud and how to contact her can be found at https://ombud.web.cern.ch/