From 16 to 17 October 2019 an IOI Europe workshop was held in Riga (Latvia).The workshop focused on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the different aspects to be considered by human rights institutions in their work. The workshop consisted of three sessions: GDPR and supervision, GDPR at national level and GDPR and individual.

The Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, also known as “the Lanzarote Convention” was ratified by the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Ombudsman of Azerbaijan addressed a letter to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan thanking him for his initiative regarding the ratification.   

The Ombudsman of Ireland has recently published the latest edition of the Ombudsman’s Casebook. The idea behind this Casebook is to promote learning from complaints. There is a wide variety of case summaries which are intended to help service providers to avoid making the mistakes of others or to improve systems to prevent unintended consequences.

The Ombudsman of Portugal carried out a training session for the Mozambican Ombudsman, who sent a team of five persons to Lisbon from 7 to 11 October.

On 16-18 of October, a three-day training for trainers on the governance and oversight mechanisms in the security sector was conducted for the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia.

The Ombudsman Nova Scotia, Canada, has just published its Annual Report for the period 2018-2019. The Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman handled 2,278 complaints, inquiries, and youth contacts in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

From 9 to 11 October, ENNHRI’s Asylum and Migration Working Group met in Madrid, where representatives of 17 National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) reaffirmed the importance of collective work on migrants’ rights.

Public sector agencies are increasingly making use of advice and resources from the Ombudsman. In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased by 29%, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year.