As a result of a number of complaints to the Ombudsman and wider community concern, the Ombudsman conducted an investigation into the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Housing's processes for determining and pursuing maintenance debts against public housing tenants. The investigation found that many public housing tenants were charged thousands of dollars for the repair of damaged public housing, even when there was no evidence they caused the damage. The investigation also found that the department was wasting public resources and breaching its responsibility as a Model Litigant by making unreasonable demands for cost recovery and pursing claims to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Female prisoners in Victoria’s main women’s prison are being routinely strip searched, in what Ombudsman Deborah Glass has described as a “humiliating, degrading and undignified practice”.  Tabling the Implementing OPCAT in Victoria: report and inspection of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Victorian Parliament, Ms Glass said an independent inspection had uncovered some serious issues.

The Spring 2017 issue of the Ombudsman Quarterly Review is available now. It includes: engagement in the Pacific, the Ombudsman's Annual Report 2016/17, Disability Rights update, Experts by Experience on our OPCAT visits, agency progress on the OIA, PrivacyLive on Right to Know Day, latest case notes and opinion.

La Defensoría de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes de Santa Fe junto a la Defensoría del Pueblo de Santa Fe y UNICEF Argentina realizaron la jornada taller sobre el rol de las Defensorías en el abordaje del consumo problemático de sustancias. La actividad se desarrolló en la ciudad de Santa Fe en el marco del último plenario anual de la Asociación de Defensores del Pueblo de la República Argentina (Adpra) donde también se abordaron otros temas.

An international conference on “Comparative Indicators for Measuring Progress in Human Rights” was co-organized in Uzbekistan by UN, OSCE, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation and the National Center on Human Rights of Uzbekistan. The Head of the Ombudsman's Unit for Civil and Political Rights attended the event.

The Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect, Mr. Ivan Simonovic, shared a document on "Accountability for Atrocity Crimes Prevention: Implementation Guidance for National Human Rights Institutions and Ombudspersons" with the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI).

The Office of the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) presents its first end of tenure report. Divided into seven chapters, the report presents key milestones and achievements and addresses specific areas. It provides background information on the Ombudsman concept, its philosophy and origin together with the history of the Kenyan Ombudsman.

La intensificación del proceso de urbanización en años recientes, ha motivado la escasez de recursos didácticos para los estudiantes de las zonas rurales, abriendo aún más la brecha entre las zonas rurales y las zonas urbanas. Por este motivo, el Yuan de Control (YC) inició una investigación sobre los problemas de la educación en zonas rurales, la situación de los recursos asignados y su eficacia.