In March 2014, the People’s Advocate of Albania released his Special Report on Albanian citizens seeking asylum in EU countries.

On 17 March 2014, the Government of Hong Kong announced the appointment of Ms Connie Lau Yin-hing as the new Ombudsman for a term of five years.

After more than six months of facing challenges by the Lower House, the Ombudsman Bureau’s status was determined by a joint ‘voting’ session in favour of its existence within the government as an independent monitoring institution. 

IALC aims to join efforts in the defense of language rights.The foundation of the association puts an end to a symposium on language rights in which participating experts agreed that the use of regional languages in state-run public services is declining.

From 12 to 14 March 2014, the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions held its 27^th Annual Meeting in Geneva.

In her speech at the 27^th Annual Meeting of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions of the United Nations, the Defensora del Pueblo, Soledad Becerril, stressed that austerity measures must not affect the fundamental rights of citizens.

The Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, has presented the Catalan experience during the International Symposium on Language Rights and Social Cohesion in Multilingual Societies, held in Barcelona on 19 and 20 March and organized by the Ombudsman himself, along with the IALC (International Association of Language Commissioners).

The World Bank, the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, the Nordic Trust Fund and the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) will hold a round table discussion in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 25 March 2014 to raise awareness and promote a better understanding on the ombudsman’s role regarding the accountability of public service delivery as well as open government.