At its 2011 meeting in Zambia, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the applications for institutional membership from a total of six ombudsman institutions from the Asian, the Caribbean & Latin American and the European Region.

On October 18, 2011, Peter Hourihan was sworn in as Alberta’s eighth Ombudsman. Over the course of his 35 year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Mr. Hourihan worked in a variety of policing roles, most recently serving as the Commanding Officer for the RCMP in British Columbia, responsible for federal, provincial and municipal police operations.

On October 19th 2011, the Austrian Ombudsman Board was visited by a delegation of the Argentinian General Defender institution  (Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación Argentina). 

The I.O.I. congratulates the new incumbent of its Romanian member institution. On 27 September 2011, Prof. Gheorghe Iancu was appointed as the People´s Advocate of Romania for a five year term by the Romanian Parliament. 

It is with great sadness that the I.O.I. informs its members that Mr. Ofentse Moatlhodi Lepodise, Ombudsman for the Republic of Botswana, passed away on 18 October 2011. Mr. Lepodise was currently serving his second four-year term of office.

Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher recently submitted his resignation to the Governor-General. His resignation will take effect at close of business on Friday, 28 October 2011.

The annual meeting of the I.O.I. Board of Directors will be held in Livingstone, Zambia from 30 October to 2 November 2011. The members of the I.O.I. Board will look back at the progress made and the projects realized during the past membership year and will identify and prioritize projects and activities in the new membership year 2011 / 2012.

Following the partial renewal of the Members of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, Mr Sean Van Raepenbusch, who has been a judge at the Tribunal since 6 October 2005, was elected President of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal for the period from 7 October 2011 to 30 September 2014.