At the beginning of June, the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen – JO, was hosting the Nordic Ombudsmen Meeting in the town Ystad in the southern part of Sweden. The Nordic Ombudsmen comprises of Ombudsmen from Denmark, Finland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

In the year 2013 the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) Tanzania has introduced the SMS for Human Rights System, which aims at improving service delivery targeting disadvantageous citizens women, children and elders who cannot access CHRAGG’s services through visits, e-mails or phone calls.

The Ombudsman of Spain asks for a court-appointed lawyer for minors who want their opinions to be considered in legal proceedings. Ombudsman Soledad Becerril presented a paper analysing whether minors’ views are heard adequately in legal proceedings that affect them.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman released the latest issue of its newsletter “Resolve – News from the Ombudsman” for the month of May 2014.

International human rights institutions are looking into the possibility of acting jointly to help free the Nigerian girls kidnapped on 14 April by the radical islamic group Boko Haram.

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.