Taiwanese Ombudswoman Teresa Yin visits the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) and the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) in Vienna

October 8, 2015

Key points of the meeting were new challenges of the ombudsmanship and its future potential, especially in an international context. After an initial welcome Ombudsman Kräuter and Ombudswoman Yin reviewed differences and similarities between the Austrian and the Taiwanese ombudsmanship.

Another main topic was the communication of knowledge on ombudsman institutions and their field of work. For more and more people to be able to use the service of ombudsman boards and for guaranteeing their rights, ombudsman Kräuter considers extensive public relations as a key factor.

In this endeavor, the cooperation through the International Ombudsman Institute IOI is veritably important. Head of the General Secretariat and Executive Director of the IOI, Ulrike Grieshofer, presented new projects intensifying the cooperation between the IOI members. In the year of 2016, three new trainings concerning Human Rights and Complaint Management are scheduled, also in Asia. Moreover, a research project investigating the history of the IOI and its members on the occasion of the IOI’s 40th anniversary was announced.