Commissioner for Human Rights

The International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) was established in 1978 as a global organisation aiming at supporting the institution of Ombudsman worldwide. Currently the organisation gathers 176 members – mainly Ombudsmen or human and citizen rights protection institutions. The cooperation within IOI is organised in six regional chapters: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Australasia & Pacific, the Caribbean & Latin America. The European region counts 80 representatives. Prof. Irena Lipowicz, Ombudsman of the 6^th term was, since 2010, Board Member of the IOI in the European Region and Member of the IOI World Board. In January 2015 she was elected to serve as a President of the European Board. Her duty within IOI was to initiate and coordinate the ongoing cooperation of the Board and collaborate with the IOI World Secretariat in Vienna. During the current term, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Poland remains a member of the IOI and in December 2015 Dr. Adam Bodnar, the Ombudsman of the 7^th term held a meeting with Dr. Günther Kräuter, IOI General Secretary. At present the function of President of the European Board is occupied by Mr Rafael Ribó, Catalan Ombudsman who has been elected for this position in January 2016. An important event in IOI’s activity is the IOI World Conference organised every four years which is attended by  the representatives of Ombudsman institutions from all over the world. The next meeting will be held from 13 to 19 November 2016 in Bangkok.
For more information concerning the work of the Institute and current developments in the field of human rights protection in the countries being members of the IOI, please visit: http://www.theioi.org/
We recommend reviewing the IOI’s Newsletter on a regular basis and we hope you will enjoy it.