The Ombudsman of Gibraltar, Mario M Hook recently announced the launching of his new website: www.ombudsman.org.gi. It will provide better functionality and interaction to its users and importantly allows complaints to be submitted electronically through an online complaint form.

Ombudsman Eduardo Vega expressed his satisfaction and welcomes the decision of the Congress to adopt the Law on Consultation of the Indigenous Peoples on 23 August 2011. Vega called the act “a provision which constitutes a seminal step for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and for institutionalising the intercultural dialogue between them and the authorities”.

The I.O.I. welcomes the new incumbent of its Japanese member institution. On August 26th 2011, Hideo Arai has been appointed Director-General of the Administrative Evaluation Bureau at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

The I.O.I. strives to encourage and support research and study into the institution of the ombudsman as well as to collect, store and disseminate research data. Since 2010 the I.O.I. the General Secretariat in Vienna hosts the Institute's archives.

Continuous commitment and outstanding efforts by members of the ombudsman community have shaped the I.O.I. and made it the most important organisation for the cooperation of more than 135 independent public service ombudsman institutions. The I.O.I. recently thanked them for their valuable services.

The 12^th regional Conference of the Asian Ombudsman Association  (AOA) will be held in Japan from 5^th to 8^th December 2011. An official website has been launched in order to provide information about the detailed pogramme.

Over the course of the summer, the General Secretariat has invited I.O.I. members to register for a free of charge electronic access to a comparative legal study about European Ombudsman Institutions. So far, already close to fifty accounts have been provided, enabling I.O.I. user to read and download individual chapters of the following publication: Kucsko-Stadlmayer, Gabriele (ed.): "European Ombudsman-Institutions. A comparative legal analysis regarding the multifaceted realisation of an idea", Springer Wien New York, 2008.

On 16 August 2011, the NSW Ombudsman tabled a special report to Parliament titled More than board and lodging: the need for boarding house reform. The report draws on extensive work by the Ombudsman´s office since 2002, which has identified serious concerns about the safety, health, welfare and rights of the residents of licensed boarding houses, and the adequacy of the system that is meant to protect them.