Con el fin de comprender la implementación de asuntos laborales, tales como políticas laborales, seguro laboral, jubilación, bienestar, inspección laboral, planificación del sistema de igualdad y supervisión, el Comité de Asuntos Financieros y Económicos del Yuan de Control (YC) supervisó al Ministerio de Trabajo el 30 de octubre de 2020. Durante la visita, la delegación escuchó un informe de dicho ministerio e intercambió opiniones.

On 24 November 2020, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel held an international Zoom Webinar under the auspices of the IOI on the topic of “Covid-19 and the Ombudsperson - Rising to the Challenge of a Pandemic”. The webinar brought together participants from 50 Ombudsman offices around the world to learn how a long-term crisis can still act as a platform for best practices and improvement.

The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, addressed a set of recommendations to the Secretary of State for Consumer Protection, with a view to protecting the rights of consumers, particularly the most vulnerable, in the context of television competitions which call for more expensive telephone calls.

On 26 November 2020 the African Ombudsman Research Centre (AORC) will hold a Zoom facilitated discussion on “Dealing with the Media” to which you are warmly invited. Simultaneous interpretation into French, Portuguese, and Arabic will be available.

Western Australia Ombudsman Chris Field has tabled in Parliament the report of a major own motion investigation on “Preventing suicide by children and young people 2020”. The 2020 Investigation examines what is known about suicide and self-harm by Western Australian children and young people, current strategic frameworks, and data obtained during the Ombudsman’s investigation.

The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) launches the winter edition of its Quarterly Bulletin. The Bulletin aims to provide readers with a short, easy-to-read summary of news from the office, drawing attention to NIPSO’s most recent investigation reports, providing updates on new initiatives, and highlighting other aspects of the Ombudsman’s work.

During the month of March 2020, most European countries introduced lockdowns of their populations to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such measures can have an impact on the extent of crime and, indirectly, on the size of prison populations. In order to measure the side-effects of the pandemic on the prison populations the Council of Europe and the University of Lausanne launched the SPACE I – COVID-19 project to follow closely the effects of the pandemic on prisons, inmates and probationers across Europe.

On 18 November 2020, Tamar Gvaramadze, First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, participated in the UN Human Rights Council’s 9^th high level online Forum on Business and Human Rights. The theme of the forum was "Preventing business-related human rights abuses: The key to a sustainable future for people and planet".