The Control Yuan (CY) held the 2013 workshop on protecting women’s rights on 7 June 2013. The workshop was attended by 320 participants from women’s groups, government organizations, and academia. Representatives of the relevant Executive Yuan ministries were also on hand to answer questions posed by the participants.

The African Ombudsman and Mediators Association (AOMA) recently released the 5^th Issue of its newsletter including a wide range of information on ombudsman institutions on the African continent. The Newsletter is available in English and French.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today called on the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to crack the pervasive “code of silence” under which some guards in the province’s correctional institutions use excessive force against inmates and conspire to cover it up.

Registration is now open for the annual IOI training, which will be held from 15 – 18 September 2013 in Vienna, Austria. This training held in cooperation with the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is designed for ombudsman staff of institutions with an anti-corruption mandate.

For the first time in the history of the Prison and Penitentiary of Sopronkőhida, built in 1886, the Ombudsman conducted an investigation which revealed that inmates spend their lengthy imprisonment in cramped cells and fewer psychologists than needed are available.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a joint Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration on 11 June.

Enquiries after a filed complaint proved that detention of consignment by the Wildlife and Customs Departments was illegal. Ombudsman issued directives to the authorities concerned.

Birmingham City Council failed to deal with a homeless family properly meaning a woman and her four children had to live in a one-room Bed & Breakfast for over 4 months.