Control Yuan (CY) President Dr. Chang Po-ya and CY Member Dr. Jane Y.W. Chiang attended the 20th annual conference of the Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman (FIO) on November 10, 2015, and exchanged views with delegates from about 20 Latin American countries on the freedom of government information.
This year’s conference focused on the issue of retrieval and transparency of public information. President Chang and Dr. Chiang also introduced Taiwan’s achievements in promoting freedom of government information over the past decade and implementation of the Sunshine Acts.
The FIO is the leading platform for cooperation and exchange among supervisory and human rights institutions in the Spanish-speaking countries. Over the past 20 years, the federation has promoted human rights protection through international collective cooperation.
The conference was also attended by ombudspersons from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Uruguay.
The CY has long maintained good relations with its Latin American counterparts and has regularly participated in the annual FIO conference as an observer since 1999. Public Defender of Uruguay Ms. Guianze, who hosted this year’s FIO conference, visited Taiwan this July and presented the invitation to President Chang. President Chang led the CY delegation and is the first CY President to attend the FIO conference.