The Ombudsman’s international engagement
The New Zealand Ombudsman has engaged with and supported international colleagues from around the world for many years. This work allows the Ombudsman to learn from and help develop best practice internationally.
New Zealand was the first country outside Scandinavia to establish an Ombudsman, and New Zealand Ombudsmen have held a number of key international posts within the International Ombudsman Institute. This has led to increasing numbers of requests for assistance from around the world.
The Ombudsman recognises the need to support international integrity institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. With Parliament’s support, the Ombudsman established an Asia-Pacific Ombudsman training and development support programme.
The Ombudsman has a dedicated team that engages with and supports international colleagues in the region. The International Development and Engagement team delivers projects that help to develop best practice and contribute to lifting good governance, transparency and integrity in the region. The Ombudsman does this through:
- collaboration and support programmes with individual offices
- international training programmes and webinars
- benchmarking against international standards (and where requested, assisting other Ombudsman institutions to do so)
- sharing advice, support, and guidance
- leading and supporting international and regional networks
The Chief Ombudsman also serves as the Second Vice President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI). This role enables him to promote the importance of ombudsmanship, good governance and transparency internationally; and to further support Ombudsmen in carrying out their respective mandates.
Jurisdiction and expertise of the New Zealand Ombudsman
The Ombudsman has jurisdiction and expertise in the following areas. If you need support with jurisdictions or areas outside of those listed above, the Ombudsman has a network of other Ombudsman and agencies that may be able to support you.
- Maladministration (including systemic investigations)
- Right to information (official Information)
- Whistleblowing (protected disclosures)
- Monitoring places of detention (Under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT))
- Fair treatment for disabled people (Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Disability Convention))
- Oversight of children in state care
- Corporate functions (legal, strategy, community engagement, human resources, training public sector agencies, communications, IT, information management, annual report writing and peer review, monitoring and evaluation)