On 8 July 2011, the Members of the Austrian Ombudsman Board met with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) assists in the establishment and strengthening of national human rights institutions (NHRIs). It has recently published an infonote for National Human Rights Institutions for the interaction with Treaty Bodies.

Since the establishment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in 1952, it constitutes the judicial authority of the European Union and, in cooperation with the courts and tribunals of the Member States, it ensures the uniform application and interpretation of European Union law. The annual report provides a synopsis of the case-law and much statistical information. It is available in all official EU languages.

A regional subvention was granted to the North American region to hold a two-day SYT training workshop in October 2011 prior to the United States Ombudsman Annual (USOA) Conference. The training course will be presented  by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. We record our thanks for his continued support in this way.

During the United States Ombudsman Annual (USOA) Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, a Regional Meeting of North American I.O.I. Members will be held on 26 October 2011.

The report is the result of a project by the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency on the situation of migrants in an irregular situation in the EU.

Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen deals in his commentary article to his annual report with new legislation under which a national human rights institution in accordance with the UN-approved Paris Principles will be established in Finland at the beginning of 2012.

This is Emily O’Reilly´s eighth Annual Report as Ombudsman and the twenty-seventh since the Office of the Ombudsman, the first one in the State, was established back in 1984.      Complaints made to her Office in 2010 rise to 3,727 - up 30% on 2009, the highest number recorded in over 10 years.