The Defensora del Pueblo, Soledad Becerril, has presented in the Joint Committee for Relations with the Ombudsman the report “Economic crisis and personal insolvency: actions and propositions”.

The Council of Europe organised a conference on the detention of immigrants in Europe in co-operation with the United Kingdom’s national preventive mechanism against torture. The conference was held on 21-22 November 2013 in order to establish common concerns and to develop minimum standards on the basis of a comprehensive exchange of experience and best practice.

On 25-28 November 2013, the VIIIth Congress of the Association of Ombudsmen and Mediators of la Francophonie (AOMF) took place in Dakar. On the occasion of the General Assembly, the new Bureau has been elected.

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.

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”.

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”.