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.
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
Second Vice President, International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), and incumbent Western Australia Ombudsman.
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 5 Waitress describes the dishes on the towers to a table of APOR conference members
