BackGood Morning, distinguished Guests, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.
On behalf of the International Ombudsman Institute, I add my warm welcome to you all. Your presence at this welcome ceremony shows your support for the important work of the Ombudsman, and we thank you for that. I want to extend our sincere thanks to the Control Yuan of Taiwan. They have created what I am sure will be a memorable meeting with a wide range of presentations that cover the full range of an Ombudsman’s work, around the theme of the Ombudsman and human rights. Taiwan is a long standing member of the I.O.I. and has, over the years made a fine contribution to our various meetings and discussions.
This conference will help to strengthen the bonds between our organisations and I am especially pleased to welcome the Secretary General of the I.O.I., Peter Kostelka and the Regional Vice Presidents – Rafael Ribo from Barcelona and from Ontario, André Marin. This level of representation from the I.O.I. serves to underline our desire to strengthen the regions and offer more support to our members worldwide.
We have also said that we want to become more inclusive and to reach out to other like organisations and especially to those who also practise the full extent of the Ombudsman role but who, for some reasons do not meet the current criteria for membership of the I.O.I. This closer cooperation and collaboration is important and over the next two days we will look at how the Ombudsman works and how we can improve what we do to raise the bar for tolerance, justice, good process and the rule of law.
In that regard it is appropriate that we meet here in Taiwan. This region has a long history of over two thousand years of the Control Yuan concept working to ensure that citizens are protected against abuses of power by officials. We continue this tradition – whether we are called Ombudsman, Control Yuan, Médiateur, Provedore or Public Defender. Our important role ss to mediate between the governing and governed, to promote Good Governance and the integrity of public office so as to develop and ensure trust in Government and that people are treated fairly and justly in our societies. To do this effectively means that we must speak out – first, in defence of our colleagues when they are under threat or when their resources are inadequate to do the job, or where their jurisdiction or powers are curtailed.
We should speak out against national and international practices which violate codes of human rights or best practise in Governance; practises such as that in many countries of the continuance of a policy of capital punishment, which abridges human dignity and affects the progressive development of human rights. We should speak out against systemic and legislative proposals which would limit access to justice, or the rights of citizens to speak out against oppression, or to seek the freedom to express alternative viewpoints.
As Ombudsman we have a duty to “speak truth to power” because we stand at the heart of the relationship between those who govern and those who are governed. It is not an easy task. It can be, as some of our colleagues know only too well, a dangerous task. To all of you I say again “thank you” for the warmth of your welcome and for your continued support of our work. To my Ombudsman colleagues I say, in New Zealand Maori – “Kia Kaha!”, that means “Be strong!”.
Thank you.
