The December 2022 issue of Waka Tangata is out now. Catch up on the latest news from Pacific and Australasia Ombudsmen and read how the Ombudsman Tonga is using "Ombudsvans" to provide access to its services in remote communities.

 

The Office of the Ombudsman of Tonga introduced a new initiative to better facilitate easier public access to the services of the Ombudsman. Six mobile outreach programs (MOPs) covered the smaller villages of Tongatapu not commonly present in previous district outreaches.

A training course sharing Korea’s best practices of anti-corruption policies, such as Integrity Assessment of public institutions and Corruption Risk Assessment, with 7 countries was completed. The ACRC designed the training course, which marks its 10^th anniversary this year, for foreign countries to build capacity for the effective establishment of anti-corruption systems.

The Ombudsperson released a report with a cautionary message for public organizations – don’t develop policies that are too narrow to serve the public fairly. In his report, Making Amends, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke highlights the case of a woman in her 70s who ran into bureaucratic roadblocks when she applied to the Vital Statistics Agency to amend her name on her B.C. birth certificate. 

Education and Health, being basic human rights and ensuring improved service delivery to the people, fall within the domain of Ombudsman Sindh. The Provincial Ombudsman Sindh initiated a research study on “Assessment of Malnutrition (Stunting) in District Tharparkar”. The study is funded by the IOI under the Regional Subsidy Programme 2021/2022.

The Honorable Ombudsman of the Republic of Angola, Dra Florbela Araújo, on the 1st of December of the current year, held a meeting with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, accredited in Angola, HE Bjornar Dahl Hotvdt, focusing on cooperation and exchange of experience in matters related to human rights and the crime of torture.

A report tabled by the NSW Ombudsman on 9th December 2022 links perinatal (birth) records with the records of children who have died to better understand risk factors for early childhood mortality.

The Alberta Ombudsman published the Annual Report for 2021-22. In 2021-22, written complaints about provincial government agencies, boards, commissions, and departments comprised 75% of the total jurisdictional complaints received.