Enthrusted with the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM), the Spanisch national Ombudsman Institution – the Public Defender – has conducted 231 inspection visits of places of deprivation of liberty during its first working year. The Office of the Public Defender headed by María Luisa Cava de Llano has accordingly published a first MNP Report.

During the presentation of his recent report entitled 'Contributions to a National Policy on intercultural bilingual education for the benefit of Peru's Indigenous Peoples' Ombudsman Eduardo Vega Luna affirmed: "Indigenous children and adolescents, in the Amazon as well as in the Andean region, are not receiving high-quality intercultural bilingual education, which constitutes a serious flaw in our country's educational system."

The International Version of the AOB's 2010 Annual Report has now been released. It provides an outline of the activities of the three members of the AOB during the year as well as an overview of international activities, including International Ombudsman Institute (I.O.I) activities and bilateral contacts.´It also includes examples of human rights related cases which the AOB has had to resolve in 2010 when assessing complaints about maladministration and infringements of administrative law by public authorities.

André Marin, the Ombudsman of Ontario, recently announced the fifth annual course for administrative investigators. SHARPENING YOUR TEETH: Advanced Investigative Training for Administrative Watchdogs will take place at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto from November 28-30, 2011.

Several new incumbents entered into office in the past couple of weeks: Mr. Dominique Baudis is the new French Defender of Rights, Ms. Calliope Spanou the Greek Ombudswoman and Ms. Raymonde Saint-Germain was reappointed in Québec - to name only a few among many more renowned personalities.

The I.O.I. General Secretariat is delighted to offer a new communication service to the Ombudsman community. The weekly “I.O.I. Ombudsman News” brings recent ombudsman news to members and applicant institutions as well as partner organisations and institutions.

At the Bermuda Board Meeting in October 2011 the I.O.I. Board decided that the I.O.I. would provide funds up to a maximum of EUR 50,000 for regional projects. Member institutions were invited to submit project proposals with a focus on training activities. Six applicants from five of the six I.O.I. World Regions were successful in the selection process conducted by the I.O.I. Executive Committee in spring 2011.

The Ombudsmen and staff of the New Zealand Office of the Ombudsmen look forward to welcoming the ombudsman community to New Zealand in November 2012 to the I.O.I. world conference. Formal invitations and information about registration will be sent out in a few months and the conference website has recently gone "live".