In July 2013 St Maarten Ombudsman Nilda Arduin brought her first-ever case before the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten, requesting the Court to review the new Criminal Code of St Maarten as to its compliance with the Constitution of Sint Maarten. On Friday, 8 November 2013, the Constitutional Court delivered its judgment.

The Citizens’ Representative for Newfoundland and Labrador, Barry Fleming, conducted a review of the new book of Gregory Levine on “Ombudsman and Legislation in Canada: An Annotation and Appraisal”.

The Federation of Ibero-American Ombudsman (Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman, FIO) held its General Assembly in Puerto Rico. The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commissionof Mexico, Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, was elected President of the FIO.

Queen Margaret University (QMU) is consulting ombudsman organisations on a new Masters programme in dispute resolution. QMU has been running ombudsman and complaint handling training programmes for a number of years and is now seeking to further develop provision for dispute resolvers.

On 6 November 2013 , the Ombudsman of Sint Maarten launched its website. Persons will now be able to file a complaint on line, monitor upcoming events and view reports and outcome of cases among others.

The Pacific Ombudsman Alliance (POA) issued the November edition of its Newsletter, which can be downloaded here.

The African Ombudsman and Mediators Association (AOMA) published the 6^th Issue of its Newsletter "African Ombudsman Today".

The IOI General Secretariat would like to inform you about the latest developments regarding two regional member institutions from Spain; namely the Ombudsman of Asturias (Procuradora General de Asturias) and the Ombudsman of La Rioja (Defensoría del Pueblo Riojano).