On 5 June 2012 Ombudswoman Terezija Stoisits, Ombudsman Peter Kostelka and Human Rights Advisory Council Deputy Chairwoman Prof. Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer met with the recently appointed Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Nils Muižnieks who currently is performing a three-day visit to Austria.

The European NPM Newsletter is a bi-monthly review of information deemed relevant for National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) in the Council of Europe region. It is prepared under the aegis of the National Human Rights Structures (NHRS) Unit of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe

Raoul Wallenberg Institute , in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), has developed a database of NHRI materials. The purpose of the database is to make NHRI materials (annual reports, thematic guides and studies, national inquiries, etc.) available to a wider audience and to generally promote the work of NHRIs around the world. From experience with similar projects, potential users include, inter alia: students, scholars, donors, and other NHRIs.

British Columbia Ombudsperson Kim Carter, who was reappointed for an unprecedented second term by the Legislative Assembly on 9 May 2012, released her 2011/12 Annual Report.

The Québec Ombudsman recently released a special report entitled Services Provided to Young People and Adults with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder: From Government Commitment to Cold Hard Facts. The report, submitted to the National Assembly, follows a first report released in October 2009 on services for children aged 0 to 7 years with pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs).

On 17^th May 2012, the Portuguese Ombudsman, Alfredo José de Sousa, delivered to the President of the Parliament his Annual Report of Activities concerning the year of 2011. The Ombudsman received 7753 complaints, due to the current economic and financial context one out of five cases opened in 2011 concerned social rights.

To execute the functions of NPM, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova and the members of NPM group regularly conduct short-term and long-term visits to temporary detention places, psychiatric hospitals, penitentiary facilities, places of deprivation of liberty and places of restriction of liberty.

During its mid-term meeting that took place from 7 to 8 May 2012 in Hong Kong, the IOI Board of Directors took decisions on several applications for individual, associate and institutional membership. Welcoming the new members to the IOI family the General Secretariat will present in the next newsletter editions the main facts and figures of each new member starting with the Ombudsman of Santa Fe, Argentina.