The Office of the Israel Ombudsman, in conjunction with the College of Safed Law School in northern Israel, is operating a clinic for law students on the subject: The Office of the Israel Ombudsman. The purpose of the clinic is to increase awareness of the Ombudsman's Office among residents of northern Israel, an area with a high concentration of minority populations including Arabs and new immigrants.

Today marks the launch of the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer (INWO) service for the NHS in Scotland. The date coincides with the implementation of the new National Whistleblowing Standards (the Standards) which also go live today. This was previously agreed by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), who will take on the new role of INWO.

Como consecuencia del contexto actual por la pandemia del COVID-19, la Defensoría del Turista porteña y el Servicio de Alergia e Inmunología del Hospital Argerich llevaron a cabo el pasado 8 de abril la jornada informativa virtual “Pasaporte sanitario, un nuevo requisito para viajar. Aspectos médicos y legales”.

The Ombudsman, Mr. Andreas Pottakis, submitted the Annual Report of the
Greek Ombudsman for 2020 to the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr. Konstantinos
Tassoulas, on 31 March 2021.

Ombudsman staff who investigate complaints often say the hardest part of the job is handling the behaviour of some of the people who use their services. They may be angry, frustrated, or distressed; occasionally, they even may demonstrate threatening behaviour. Issue 6 of the IOI’s Best Practice Paper series provides guidance to help complaint handlers deal with such challenging behaviour and improve their service. 

The African Ombudsman Research Centre (AORC) in cooperation with the IOI is hosting a factilitated Zoom discussion on the Optional Protocol to The Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and what it means in relation to the Ombudsman and its mandate of visiting places of detention. The webinar will be held on 20 April 2021 and registration is now open.

El pasado año en Alemania se publicó un informe que analizaba el alcance de la infiltración de la extrema derecha dentro de los servicios de seguridad del país. El Departamento de Interior ha aceptado la recomendación de elaborar un estudio similar respecto del cuerpo de PG-ME.

Already in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was warning that substantial investment in mental health services was necessary to avert a mental health crisis. The evidence for the devastating impact of the pandemic on mental health is now overwhelming. The reasons for this are clear: the pandemic caused fear and anxiety for everyone, and many of us had to face illness, grief over lost family members, insecurity and loss of income