By Neville Borg
An Adrian Delia-led PN government would strengthen the ombudsman鈥檚 powers, turning the office into a National Human Rights Agency to safeguard citizens鈥 rights, the leadership hopeful pledged in an article published in today鈥檚 Times of Malta. This move would give the ombudsman鈥檚 office real authority, making it impossible for the government to continue ignoring its recommendations, he said, describing the current situation as a 鈥済aping hole in our legal landscape鈥. In practice, Delia writes, citizens would be able to take to the courts to enforce the ombudsman鈥檚 decisions, a move which is not available to the public today. He said that the government had 鈥減urposely鈥 held back from creating a human rights agency, despite repeated EU calls for its establishment. Meanwhile, existing bodies and proposals to safeguard accountability had failed, Delia argued, pointing to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption, which has only brought about one conviction in its 32 years. In contrast, he said his government would 鈥済o in the direction of lawfulness and the rule of law,鈥 making the setting up of the agency one of its calling cards. The agency would be advised by an independent board and rope in civil society to ensure transparency and independence, he writes. Delia also describes how the agency would use technology, particularly artificial intelligence, to help it process and assess citizen complaints. ‘Source of redress for past injustices’ The government will 鈥渋nvest in building or adopting Large Language Models (LLMs) to support the work of the Ombudsman and the Human Rights Agency, enabling faster and more consistent assessment of complaints,鈥 Delia says. Ultimately, Delia says, the revamped ombudsman and National Human Rights Agency would act as a 鈥渟ource of redress for past injustices and as a safeguard that future governments will find it far more difficult to inflict these injustices and get away with it鈥. Delia, who served as PN leader between 2017 and 2020, is once again contesting for the party鈥檚 leadership, following Bernard Grech鈥檚 sudden resignation last month. He is competing against Gozitan lawyer Alex Borg, who was the frontrunner in the race according to early internal polls. Both Delia and Borg have been described as coming from the same ideological wing of the party, with both candidates known for their conservative views. Their rival candidatures came as a surprise, after an initial agreement not to contest against each other faltered. Their relationship has since deteriorated, with efforts to iron out their differences ongoing.