31st APOR 2019, Taipei Taiwan September 25-27 September 2019

The Australasia & Pacific Regional Conference is comprised of Taiwan and Hong Kong from Asia and New Zealand, Australia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands from the Pacific and is likely to see more growth in membership.

The Australasia & Pacific Region (APOR) is one of the six regional chapters of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI). It holds conferences every year, and this year Taiwan’s Control Yuan hosted its 31st Conference over a 3 day period.

The first day of Conference saw members providing brief reports from each jurisdiction and was represented by Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Cook Islands.

Figure 1 Ombudsman Tearea and Deputy Ombudsman Daniel at APOR members Business meeting
Figure 1 Ombudsman Tearea and Deputy Ombudsman Daniel at APOR members Business meeting

 

Seminar 1: Practices and Recent Development of the International Ombudsman Institute.

This session was moderated by Hsiao-hung Nancy Chen, Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan), Member.

Panel speakers were Carmen Comas-Mata Mira, Secretary-General, Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsman (FIO), Head of International Affairs in the Office of the Spanish Ombudsman

Werner Amon, who was recently appointed the Secretary-General, International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) and incumbent Austrian Ombudsman

Chris Field
Chris Field

Second Vice President, International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), and incumbent Western Australia Ombudsman.

Figure 2 Ombudsman Tearea and Deputy Ombudsman at the first seminar of APOR 2019

 

Seminar Two: The Ombudsman and the Protection of Economically and Socially Disadvantaged People’s Human Rights

This session was moderated by Michael Dick, Chief Ombudsman from the Ombudsman Commission of Papua New Guinea.

Panel Speakers in this session were: Deborah Glass who is the Victorian Ombudsman, but also a Director of APOR

Mei-yu Wang, Member of Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Michael Manthorpe, Commonwealth Ombudsman, Australia

Session 3: The Multifunctional Role of the Ombudsman

This session was moderated by Phil Clarke, Queensland Ombudsman, Australia

Panel Speakers in this session were:

Peter Boshier, President of APOR, Ombudsman of New Zealand

Tzong-ho Bau Convener, International Affairs Committee, Control Yuan Member, Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Iitsuka Masao, Director, Administrative Counselling Office, Administrative Evaluation Bureau, MIC, Japan

Elizabeth Rynning, Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, Sweden

Our gracious hosts also offered a tour of Taipei City through the National Palace Museum and the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens.

Figure 3Deputy Ombudsman Daniel and Ombudsman Tearea outside the Control Yuah preparing for the City Tour
Figure 3Deputy Ombudsman Daniel and Ombudsman Tearea outside the Control Yuah preparing for the City Tour
Figure 4 Chief Ombudsman Boshier (NZ) with Deputy Ombudsman Daniel looks on at the many Chinese treasures

Figure 5Waitress describes the dishes on the towers to a table of APOR conference members

Figure 5 Waitress describes the dishes on the towers to a table of APOR conference members

Figure 6Group photo outside the Lin Family Mansion & Gardens
Figure 6 Group photo outside the Lin Family Mansion & Gardens

 

Figure 7 Ombudsman Tearea and Deputy Ombudsman Daniel presents gift to Po-ya Chang, President, Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan)
Figure 7 Ombudsman Tearea and Deputy Ombudsman Daniel presents gift to Po-ya Chang, President, Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan)