Since 2007, the Ontario Ombudsman has offered Sharpening Your Teeth (SYT) training to investigators, ombudsmen and other professional watchdogs. The course teaches advanced investigation techniques, using the Ontario Ombudsman's proven models for conducting systemic investigations.

Guido van Woerkom has been elected by Parliament as the new National Ombudsman of the Netherlands. Mr Van Woerkom follows former Nation Ombudsman Alex Brenninkmeijer and will take office in November 2014.

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, MsValeriya Lutkovska, and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation, Ms Ella Pamfilova, coordinated a previously planned organizational meeting which will be held on 13 June 2014 in the city of Kharkiv.

In a meeting with the Ombudsman Commission, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the executive branch supported independent investigations into government decisions but also pointed out that those investigations must not go against the nation’s overall interest.

In an intervention report released today, the Québec Ombudsman concludes that admission in December 2011 of a foreign national in a Montreal Health Care institution occurred outside normal channels and without government supervision.

In November 2013, IOI Secretary General Günther Kräuter attended a workshop on effective parliamentary oversight of human rights, which was held by the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London.

During the last electoral campaign in Chile, the electoral programmes of both presidential candidates considered the establishment of an Ombudsman institution as one of the oldest and most important instruments for a modern democratic society. The IOI strongly supports the idea of establishing such an ombudsman institution and sent a letter of support to President Michelle Bachelet.

Control Yuan's (CY) 2013 Annual Report has been published recently. This report summarizes the CY’s work in 2013, including handling complaints and assuring good governance, sunshine acts, auditing, human rights protection, and international activities. Moreover, it also presents case examples highlighting the tangible effects of the CY’s work on the current administration.