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Dr. Peter Kostelka
It is with great sadness that the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) bids farewell to its former Secretary General and Honorary Life Member Dr. Peter Kostelka, who passed away unexpectedly on 17 April 2025 at the age of 78.
Peter Kostelka’s contribution to the affairs of the IOI have been nothing short but exceptional. He went the extra mile to turn his vision of a strong and solid IOI General Secretariat into reality. It was thanks to his ongoing efforts that a new General Secretariat could be established at the premises of the Austrian Ombudsman Board in Vienna in 2009. He oversaw the transition of the IOI’s headquarters from Edmonton (Canada) to Vienna (Austria) and assumed the role of the IOI’s first Secretary General whilst also serving as Austrian Ombudsman.
Under his able leadership, the IOI established itself as an effective and efficient institution, which did not only expand its membership, but also the services and offers it provides to its members, as well as its international profile through deeper relations with other Ombudsman associations and international partner organizations. The IOI’s resilience as well as its promising outlook for stability and growth in the future would not have been the same without Mr. Kostelka’s significant contribution and efforts.
The IOI will remember Mr. Kostelka as a calm and considerate diplomat of great integrity, who had a strong sense of justice and was deeply committed to good governance, fundamental rights and the Ombudsman concept as a mechanism to uphold and further these values.
Throughout his professional career, Peter Kostelka was a reliable voice for solidarity and humanity. His tireless work for the rights and concerns of others – as Ombudsman and most recently for older persons in his role as President of the Social Democrats’ Pensioners’ Association – strengthened people’s trust in democratic institutions.
The international Ombudsman community has lost one of its most dedicated members. The IOI will honor Mr. Kostelka’s memory and sends out its sincerest and heartfelt condolences to his family and friends in these difficult times.
Source: IOI General Secretariat
