An investigation carried out by Ombudsman Peter Tyndall in 2017 found that some women who worked in the Magdalen laundries in Ireland were wrongly refused access to the Magdalen Restorative Justice scheme. On Wednesday 31 January 2018 Ombudsman Peter Tyndall appeared before the Justice and Equality Committee of the Irish Parliament to discuss the findings of his report.

The Estonian Chancellor of Justice hosted an IOI workshop on „Human Rights in the Digital Age“ from 23 - 24 January 2018 in Tallinn. Presentations and photos are now accessible in the member area of this website.

The Public Protector of Zambia made her maiden appearance before  a select Committee of the National Assembly  on Legal  Affairs, Human Rights, National Guidance, Gender Matters and Governance on 31 January 2018, to review the operations of the Office .

Ms Connie Lau, The Ombudsman held a press conference on February 1 to announce the results of two direct investigations, namely “The Mechanism of the Food and Health Bureau and the Department of Health for Handling Smoking Offences” and “Government’s Control over Fly-tipping of Construction Waste and Landfilling Activities on Private Land”.

In the coming weeks the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will be considering the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s (SPSO) draft revised Strategic Plan. The revised Plan covers the SPSO’s vision and strategic aims for 2018-2020. It is available at the bottom of this page, along with the covering letter to the SPCB. The SPSO invites comments, from individuals and organisation, about all aspects of the draft Plan. The consultation is open until 28 February 2018.

The Ombudsman Sindh Mr. Asad Ashraf Malik organized a seminar on “Challenges of Health Care System in Sindh – Role of Provincial Ombudsman Sindh” which focused on the existing health facilities, identifying gaps and devising innovative strategies for improved service delivery, effective polio immunization campaign in Sindh Province.

In 2017, the Parliamentary Ombudsman received a record number of 6,192 complaints, which is an increase of almost 1,300 complaints from 2016 (4,922 complaints). Complaints against the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) totalled 1,169, and 814 of them concerned social assistance, therefore increasing by about 700 compared to 2016. The criminal sanctions field, social insurance and labour and unemployment security were other administrative branches that saw a clear increase in the number of complaints.

 

Raymond Théberge took office as Commissioner of Official Languages on January 29, 2018. He has a PhD in linguistics from McGill University, a master’s degree in applied linguistics from the University of Ottawa and a bachelor’s degree in history from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. He held a number of leadership positions before coming to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and he has significant experience with official language minority communities. He also has extensive experience in academia and has worked across Canada.