European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho’s annual report for 2025 shows that the number of complaints handled by the office rose by 54 percent (from 2264 to 3490) compared to 2024 and that the number of inquiries rose by 19 percent (from 415 to 492). The steep rise is believed to be in part due to AI tools suggesting the Ombudsman when people look for help in relation to the EU administration.
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The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has repeatedly raised concerns about systemic failings in mental health services. These included poor care planning and discharging the patient without reviewing his risk level.
Driven by concerns about access to rights and linguistic accessibility for Indigenous populations, on Wednesday, 8 April 2026, the “DPU in Indigenous Languages” project launched a booklet containing basic rights information in the Tikuna Language, spoken by the Magüta/Tikuna people of the State of Amazonas. This initiative results from a partnership between the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and the Office for Translation Services. The launch took place at DPU headquarters, with representatives of the Magüta/Tikuna People in attendance.
In early April, the IOI European Regional President, Reinier van Zutphen, brought together staff from counterparts from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to discuss the implications of the EU’s Migration Pact, set to enter into force in June 2026. This meeting was organised in line with the meeting on the Migration Pact that took place in Brussels at the office of the Federal Ombudsman of Belgium. That session focused more on the migration movement in the Mediterranean region and in Estonia participants focused more on the Northern European experience.
La Unidad de Víctimas del Defensor del Pueblo ya está constituida y la componen dieciséis profesionales independientes y expertos en victimología, psicología, criminología y en diversas disciplinas jurídicas. Se responsabilizará de la evaluación individualizada de las solicitudes y la elaboración de la propuesta de valoración de reconocimiento de la condición de víctima y de su reparación.
El 31 de marzo de 2026, el miembro y convocante del Comité de Asuntos Judiciales y de Administración Penitenciaria del Yuan de Control, el presidente interino del Yuan de Control y otros 11 miembros del Yuan de Control realizaron una visita de inspección al Yuan Judicial. Acompañados por el presidente interino del Yuan Judicial, la comitiva escuchó presentaciones sobre las actividades del Yuan Judicial, el sistema de evaluación de abogados y la supervisión de notarios privados. Posteriormente se mantuvo un coloquio.
On 18 May 2026 from 3pm to 6pm local time, the President of the UN General Assembly will convene a high-level panel at the UN Headquarters in New York on “The importance of complying with the Venice Principles for Ombudsman institutions to strengthen the institutions’ independence and autonomy and create an enabling environment to perform their mandate nationally and internationally” in accordance with General Assembly resolution 79/177. The event will be live streamed in all 6 official UN languages on the UN Web TV Website and a recorded video will be available in English and original language after the event. Kindly click here for more information on the event.
The Ombudsman of Aruba recently announced that she will organize an information session for the institutions that fall under the National Ombudsman Ordinance on May 5th and 7th. The institutions have shown great interest and both sessions were fully booked within a few days. Therefore, registration is currently closed. The Ombudsman will continue offering these sessions to institutions.
Tabled in Parliament on 28 April 2026, the NSW Ombudsman's report Investigation into the compliance audit program for COVID grants identifies unfairness in outcomes for audited grant recipients and highlights the importance of having clear and comprehensive frameworks in place prior to the commencement of audit programs.
The Central Administrative Appeals Commission under the ACRC launched a service on 6 March 2026 that delivers written decisions of administrative appeals in audio format. Since it can be used by all 90 administrative appeal agencies operating within the Online Administrative Appeals System, it is expected to significantly enhance convenience for citizens filing administrative appeals.