Enrico Formento Dojot ist the new Ombudsman of the autonomous Italian region Valle d’Aosta. He was elected in his office by the regional parliament of Aosta Valley last December.

The Danish Parliament ‘The Folketing’ recently appointed Jørgen Steen Sørensen, former Director of Public Prosecutions, as successor to the long-term Parliamentary Ombudsman Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen.

Public Services Ombudsman Mario Hook highlights the wide range of activities within his office, and wants to provide current information in regular editions of the new online bulletin

The research report "Electronic petitions and modernisation of petitioning systems in Europe" based on a project carried out on behalf of the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag by TAB (Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag) was recently published.

With the financial support of the IOI the Association of Mediterranean Ombudsman (AOM) held a training session on the topic “The Powers of the Mediator and the Ombudsman in the Defense of Human Rights”.

The General Secretariat is pleased to announce that a new training session will be held from 16 to 19 September 2012 in Vienna, Austria. This time the training session for investigative ombudsman staff will be conducted by renowned trainers in cooperation with the Edinburgh-based Queen Margaret University (QMU) which has an excellent reputation as a centre for ombudsman and complaint handling practice

Polish Human Rights Defender Prof. Irena Lipowicz visited Jordan in December 2011 and deepened the bilateral relations with the Jordan Ombudsman institution by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.

Several IOI member institutions that act as a National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) based on the Paris Principles will participate in the 25^th annual meeting of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) that will take place in Geneva, Switzerland.