The members of the AOB take stock Comparison brings certainty! “It’s wonderful that we can voice our concerns with the AOB!” (Mr M. to the AOB). Based on these criteria formulated by citizens, in our area of competence, my staff and I are primarily committed to three principles. We want to carefully examine the complaints that people bring to our attention. We want to convince the authorities that citizens have the right to good public administration and finally, we want to consistently drive the protection of basic rights and human rights forward. People are often guided by specific notions of justice. But they give up when they get the impression that authorities are stalling or hiding behind something or someone. Sometimes neighbours become the targets of accusations, if authorities are drawn into a quarrel. Clarification with regard to the legal situation can be both in equal measure: valuable help and/or bitter disappointment, especially when decisions by independent courts are at issue. Nevertheless, clarification of the legal situation continues to be an integral part of our day-to-day work. Our work is oriented towards sustainability. That is why I have always pursued and systematically initiated contact to young people beyond the solution of individual problems. In this, the statutory obligation of the AOB to work together with educational institutions and the scientific community is a proper and very important instrument. Lectures, for example at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiener Neustadt, are welcome opportunities to present the work of the Austrian Ombudsman Board. We have designed the entry area on the ground and first floor of our building professionally and in a visitor-friendly way. The activities of the AOB are now presented in all of their diversity and complexity in a contemporary and efficient way. The facts speak for themselves: illustrative examples, figures and data from our work presented in the new visitor centre VA.TRIUM show that the headquarters of the AOB is a house of rights and legal protection and of human rights as well. As the initiator of these contacts, I am delighted to see the considerable demand and the opportunity to confront especially school children with simple but very fundamental legal questions and to enhance their awareness of human rights. From my perspective, human rights will remain mere political lip service as long as people do not derive binding consequences from their knowledge of these rights. Therefore, it must be possible to experience the rights of children – as special human rights – in our everyday lives in a tangible way. They will not be effective in a sustained way until children and adolescents know their rights. We would like to cordially invite school children, teachers and students from all over Austria to visit the AOB and to become acquainted with human rights work as the core and heart of our activity in both theory and practice. 9