The Spanish Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, recalled that human rights know no borders, during her speech before the Turkish Parliament, on the occasion of the commencement of the twining project for support to the Turkish Ombudsman.

The former Ombudsman of Bermuda, Ms. Arlene Brock, was granted a Fulbright Scholarship on Thursday, July 3rd of 2014.

The Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, submitted to Parliament the fourth report by the Institution in its capacity as the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (MNP).

In Commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Ombudsman of Korea, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) hosted the Asian Global Ombudsman Conference in Seoul as well as the Board of Directors Meeting of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) and the regular meeting of the IOI's Asian Region, between the 1st and 3rd of July this year.

The Catalan Ombudsman informed the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Núria de Gispert, about his decision to give up his right to parliamentary immunity. Such a privilege is granted by Law 36/1985, of 6 November, by which the relations between the Spanish Ombudsman and other similar figures in the different regions are regulated.

The Northern Ireland Ombudsman published his Annual Report for 2013-2014 today. As well as outlining the statistics about complaints and how they have been handled, the Annual Report includes a list of key recommendations in reported and settled cases. It also includes selected anonymised case summaries to aid learning and best practice sharing across public sector bodies.

Information Commissioner, Peter Tyndall, has welcomed the Government’s proposal to abolish the €15 application fee for making FOI requests.  Both he and the former Commissioner, Emily O’Reilly, have previously publicly expressed their view that the application fee acted as a disincentive to members of the public seeking access to information held by public bodies.  

On 30 June, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released a handbook that aims to help strengthen national guardianship systems for children in Europe. It explains the important role guardians play in protecting all children from child abuse and exploitation.