The 13^th Conference of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) will be held in Tehran, Iran from 7 to 10 October 2013. This biannual event will once again offer an opportunity to meet the heads of the Asian Ombudsman Association and their non-Asian counterparts.

The Office of The Ombudsman of Hong Kong has lately released the Annual Report for the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013.  During the year, it received 5,501 complaints, 9.4% higher than last year’s.

The City of Toronto Ombudsman has received funding from the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) to lead a research project that will look at the impact that systemic investigations have had on the service to Toronto’s residents.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has directed his staff to conduct a case assessment to determine whether or not an investigation is warranted in the wake of a recent Toronto Police shooting.

On 26 July 2013, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) laid its 2012/2013 public report before the Scottish Parliament. Despite increasing numbers of complaints and significant cuts in resourcing, the office’s productivity also rose and the SPSO dealt with 9% more complaints than in the previous year.

The Edinburgh-based Queen Margaret University, which has an excellent reputation as a centre for ombudsman and complaint handling practice, published a research report on the future of ombudsmen schemes in the United Kingdom.

A round table was held by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on the control over the observance of human rights while rendering psychiatric care to Ukrainian citizens.

As of mid-June, 2013, the term-of-office of His Excellency Abdelilah Al Kurdi, President of the Ombudsman Bureau, has ended.  The Acting President currently for the Jordanian Ombudsman Bureau is His Excellency Mr. Ala’eddin Armouti.