During its annual meeting, held in New York in September 2013, the IOI Board of Directors took decisions on applications for IOI membership and is therefore delighted to welcome the new members to the IOI family.

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and Penal Reform International (PRI) recently presented a new joint resource: the Detention Monitoring Tool: addressing risk factors to prevent torture and ill-treatment.

In the recent months the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has received several complaints concerning the wage system of social care workers. The complaints referred to the fact that, as far as remuneration is concerned, social care workers are not treated in the same way as those working in the healthcare system and licenced by the Office of Health Authorisation and Administrative Procedures.

IOI Secretary General Günther Kräuter attended a workshop on effective parliamentary oversight of human rights, which was held by the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London from 13 to 14 November 2013.

Between 28 September and 20 October 2013, the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance of Tanzania (CHRAGG) conducted a public awareness campaign on land rights in 22 districts out of 169 districts of the 14 regions of Tanzania. The targeted groups were citizens and local government officials at the ward and village levels.

The Québec Ombudsman announced the launch of its Facebook and Google + pages and its Twitter account.

Many children across the EU continue to suffer from poverty, discrimination or violence, despite EU and national efforts. As EU bodies prepare for a new Commission and Parliamentary elections, FRA reminds future EU policy makers of the need for child rights to remain on their political agendas.

Rafael Ribó proposes a "winter truce" for people at risk of exclusion to stop cuts of light, gas and water for non-payment. He also proposes to set up a social price for butane and to bank on progressive pricing of water supply. Some other proposals for possible immediate application are a Working Group, to disseminate information about grants and allowances, to involve the network of houses of social inclusion and promoting educational actions for energy saving.