On the occasion of the 15 year Anniversary of the founding of the Czech Ombudsman, an International Conference was held in Brno from 26 to 27 March 2015.

Following the very successful anti-corruption training programme conducted by the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in 2013, the IOI is pleased to inform you that a second and updated edition of the IOI’s anti-corruption training programme will be held in Curaçao on 27 and 28 May 2015 during the 8^th Biennial Conference of Caribbean Ombudsman Association (CAROA).

The 2015 Biennial Conference of the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman (FCO) and the Association of Canadian College and University Ombudspersons (ACCUO) will be held in Vancouver from 11 to 13 May 2015 under the heading “50 Years of Fairness: People, Purpose, Passion”.

The Spanish Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, has asked the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) to promote a request for pardon for Asia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in her country.

The Office of the Ombudsman Hong Kong released two investigation reports recently. One is about the "Procedures for Approval of Loan Applications and Recovery of Debts under the Non-means-tested Loan Scheme" while the other one is on "Education Bureau’s Non-disclosure of Teachers’ Registration Status".

A complete report of the accident captioned “Cognizance of Tragic Incident of Death of 57 persons in Bus-Truck Accident” has been published. It has been finalised on the taking of Suo Moto notice of the incident by the Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan, Salman Faruqui.

The term of former IOI President and New Zealand Chief Ombudsman, Dame Beverley Wakem, is due to expire in March 2015. Given the fact that the Ombudsman’s Office is conducting an important review of the Official Information Act and currently also reviews its operating model, the Officers of Parliament Committee recommends an extension to the term of Chief Ombudsman Wakem until the end of 2015.

The Office of the Ombudsman of the City of Toronto released its 2014 annual report. In a personal statement, Ombudsman Fiona Crean declared she has decided not to seek reappointment.