APOR | Waka Tangata – Issue 7 of the APOR E-news now available

Issue 7 of the Waka Tangata E-news reports about the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s on-going commitment to its partnership programs with Ombudsman offices and integrity bodies in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands.

The Waka Tangata further informs about the most recent own motion investigations carried out and initiated by the Office of the Ombudsman of Hong Kong, such as an investigation into the government’s mechanism for monitoring vaccines provided by private healthcare facilities or the government’s regulation of boarding facilities for foreign domestic helpers.

The Office of the Ombudsman in the Solomon Islands has regained its pace of work and is delivering an advocacy and awareness program to secondary schools throughout the country and Control Yuan translated its “Research Handbook on the Ombudsman” into Chinese, in order to reach out to a wider audience.

The Vanuatu Office of the Ombudsman has two new roles to fill. One of these roles is that of a new leadership annual returns function, whereby leaders must file their annual returns with the Ombudsman (a process previously administered by the Clerk of Parliament.) The other is the power to prosecute. Previously, the Ombudsman was unable to take matters to court. Now, after consulting with the Public Prosecutor, the Ombudsman has been granted some powers to prosecute offences committed during the course of.

Finally, Issue 7 of the Waka Tangata E-news congratulates Western Australia Ombudsman Chris Field on the immense achievement of being elected the new President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI).

Issue 7 of the Waka Tangata APOR E-news is now available online. Click here to read the full newsletter.