Last week the New Zealand Office of the Ombudsman released the results of its most significant and comprehensive investigations. “Disclosure” presents the findings and recommendations of a review into processes for school closures and mergers in New Zealand, with a particular focus on the wide-scale school reorganisation that took place after the Canterbury earthquakes of 2011.

On 26 June 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia presented the annual report of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to the Government, non-governmental and international organizations and foreign diplomatic corps. The event was held in connection with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, celebrated worldwide on June 26.

En el Día Internacional de Apoyo a las Víctimas de Tortura, cuatro expertos internacionales sobre tortura, llaman a todos los gobiernos alrededor del mundo a realizar una mayor inversión en las salvaguardias de detención, para prevenir la tortura y otros malos tratos.

On 28 June 2017 Hong Kong Ombudsman Connie Lau announced the completion of two own-motioned investigations, namely “The arrangement between Housing Department and Water Supplies Department regarding payment of water charges for common areas and vacant units in public housing estates” and “Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s criteria for publicising the list of traders involved after issuing a Food Safety Order”. 

The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT), Mr Ali Noroozi, has accepted the Senate Economics References Committee’s (the Committee) request to examine how the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) addresses the risk of fraud and associated issues. The Committee’s request follows recent events including those relating to Operation Elbrus and allegations of tax fraud that may be linked to abuse of position by a public official. The IGT today announced terms of reference for this review.

Une surveillance accrue des organismes du secteur public permettra d’améliorer la responsabilisation et les services pour les Ontariens, à condition qu’elle soit cohérente et efficace. C’est ce que l’Ombudsman de l’Ontario, Paul Dubé, souligne aujourd’hui dans son plus récent Rapport annuel, qui marque la première année complète depuis son entrée en fonctions et depuis l’élargissement du mandat de son Bureau.

In its efforts to further increase the regional impact of the IOI, the members of the IOI Board of Directors decided at their recent Board meeting in Vienna to continue the regional subsidy programme for the membership year 2017/2018. Institutional members wishing to apply for a regional subsidy can submit project proposal until 1 September 2017.

On 22 June, the IOI invited to a panel discussion on “Ombudsmen under Pressure – Political, Democratic, Constitutional Restrictions and Limited Financial Conditions in our Neighbouring Countries”, which was organised jointly with the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) and the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB).