Items of News
| Published date | 01 December 1976 |
| Date | 01 December 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002085237604200414 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
ITEMS
OF
NEWS
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
(pages
419
to
422)
First
International
Ombudsman
Conference
International
Symposium
on
Reporting
Processes
in
Inte-
grated
Budgeting
Systems
NEWS
IN
BRIEF
(pages
422
to
423)
Asian
Institute
of
Technology
,
Ecuador
,
Greece
,
INTOSAI
,
United
Kingdom
CHRONICLE
OF
THE
INSTITUTE
(pages
425
to
431)
First
International
Ombudsman
Conference
*
The
Ombudsman
institution
originated
in
Sweden
as
far
back
as
1809.
The
basic
idea
was
to
have
a
man,
responsible
to
Parliament,
to
supervise
on
its
behalf
all
state
departments
and
agencies
(municipal
agencies
were
added
later
on)
in
order
to
ensure
that
they
fulfilled
their
duties
and
did
not
maltreat
the
citizens.
For
more
than
a
century
the
Swedish
insti-
tution
had
no
counterpart
in
other
countries.
In
the
1950s,
however,
Denmark
adopted
the
Ombudsman
system
in
a
slightly
modified
form,
and
since
then
it
has
rapidly
spread
over
the
world.
To-day
Ombudsmen,
or
similar
offi-
cers,
are
found
in
the
Scandinavian
countries,
in
a
number
of
other
European
countries
(e.g.
France
and
the
United
Kingdom),
in
Canada,
in
parts
of
the
United
States,
in
New
Zealand
and
Australia
and
in
many
other
parts
of
the
world
(Guyana,
India,
Tanzania,
and
Zambia,
to
name
only
a
few
of
the
countries).
The
Ombudsman
institutions,
established
in
different
countries,
have
not
exactly
the
same
functions,
nor
is
their
organization
identical.
Yet
the
institutions
have
so
much
in
common
that
Ombudsmen
have
found
it
natural
and
useful
to
meet
in
order
to
exchange
experiences
and
discuss
mutual
problems.
Such
meetings
have
started
spontaneously
on
a
small
scale.
The
Scandinavian
Ombudsmen
met
in
1972
and
1975. In
1974
there
was
a
conference
organized
by
the
Council
of
Europe
for
Om-
budsmen
from
member
countries.
Conferen-
ces
have
also
been
held
in
Canada
and
in
New
Zealand.
Eventually,
Dr.
Randall
Ivany,
Ombudsman
for
the
Province
of
Alberta,
Canada,
invited
all
known
Ombudsmen
of
the
world
to
assemble
for
a
First
International
Ombudsman
Conference
in
Edmonton,
Alberta,
in
September
1976.
The
invitation
met
a
full
response.
Not
less
than
39
Ombudsmen,
representing
35
coun-
tries,
states,
provinces
or
municipalities,
at-
tended
the
Conference.
Some
of
the
Ombuds-
men
were
accompanied
by
assistants
or
legal
advisers.
Observers
were
present
from
coun-
tries
or
provinces
that
were
considering
the
adoption
of
the
Ombudsman
system.
A
num-
ber
of
academics
were
also
present.
Alto-
gether,
the
conference
was
attended
by
more
than
a
hundred
persons.
After
a
reception
in
the
evening
of
Septem-
ber
6,
the
conference
was
officially
opened
on
September
7
and
continued
until
September
10.
In
his
opening
address,
Dr.
Ivany
suggested
as
a
theme
for the
conference
the
words &dquo;
Ex-
perience,
Expectation
and
Surprise &dquo;.
These
words
can
also
be
used
to
summarize
the
pro-
ceedings :
exchange
of
experiences,
fruitful
dis-
cussions
of
expected
developments
and,
to
some
extent,
hints
of
possible
surprises
in
the
future
(such
as
the
appointment
of
world
Ombudsmen
in
such
places
as
the
United
Nations).
The
many
topics
proposed
for
the
Conferen-
ce
were
extremely
interesting.
On
the
first
*
By
Ulf
Lundvik,
Chief
Parliamentary
Ombudsman,
Sweden.
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