Public spotlight exposes troubling local secrecy. Ontario Ombudsman André Marin presented his annual report on investigations of closed meetings and says that the Province should strengthen the “Sunshine Law”.

At its New York meeting in September 2013, the IOI Board of Directors acknowledged that the Office de la Protection du Citoyen (OPC) of Haiti fulfilled the criteria set out in the IOI By-laws and accept the institution as Voting member of the IOI.

After being refused certain benefits on the ground that they were only granted to employees on the occasion of their marriage under a collective agreement, a French citizen, who had entered into a PACS arrangement (civil solidarity pact), challenged that refusal before the French courts.

The Ombudsman observed that, due to the actions of certain non-governmental organizations, international bodies have developed an incorrect vision of the respect for human rights of non-citizens in the Republic of Latvia. Confronting on national as well as international level he presents the risks of splitting the society and emerging of differences between the representatives of social groups in Latvia.

The Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, participated in the day ‘Gender violence among teenagers: the new technologies as a tool’. There she called for the improvement of risk detection instruments for battered women, “so that the possibilities of attack are reduced”.

The International Anti-Corruption Academy recently published its fourth newsletter of the year 2013.

Former IOI president, New Zealand’s Sir Brian Elwood, presided over the IOI World Conference when it was held in Durban in 2000. On behalf of the IOI he has provided a reflection on what was a very moving occasion and one which underlined the direction Nelson Mandela had taken in the pursuit of access to justice and upholding human rights for all the citizens of his country.

At the beginning of December, a UN General Assembly Resolution on National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) was passed by consensus, enjoying cross-regional support and co-sponsored by 70 UN member states.