On October 19th 2011, the Austrian Ombudsman Board was visited by a delegation of the Argentinian General Defender institution  (Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación Argentina). 

The I.O.I. congratulates the new incumbent of its Romanian member institution. On 27 September 2011, Prof. Gheorghe Iancu was appointed as the People´s Advocate of Romania for a five year term by the Romanian Parliament. 

It is with great sadness that the I.O.I. informs its members that Mr. Ofentse Moatlhodi Lepodise, Ombudsman for the Republic of Botswana, passed away on 18 October 2011. Mr. Lepodise was currently serving his second four-year term of office.

Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher recently submitted his resignation to the Governor-General. His resignation will take effect at close of business on Friday, 28 October 2011.

The annual meeting of the I.O.I. Board of Directors will be held in Livingstone, Zambia from 30 October to 2 November 2011. The members of the I.O.I. Board will look back at the progress made and the projects realized during the past membership year and will identify and prioritize projects and activities in the new membership year 2011 / 2012.

Following the partial renewal of the Members of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, Mr Sean Van Raepenbusch, who has been a judge at the Tribunal since 6 October 2005, was elected President of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal for the period from 7 October 2011 to 30 September 2014.

The Portuguese Ombudsman, Alfredo José de Sousa, participated in Geneva in a round table organized by the Ombudsman of Morocco on the margins of the 18th session of the Human Rights Council, on the topic of the implementation of United Nations Resolution 65/207.

The I.O.I. Board decided in 2009 to focus on training activities which will help both to maintain and raise the level of professionalism in Ombudsman offices around the world. In order to identify the specific training the I.O.I. General Secretariat  has sent all member institutions a questionnaire that should help identifying their individual training needs. Based on recommendations by the Training Committee the Board will discuss and decide on future regional training activities.