The Second Vice President of the IOI, Chris Field and APOR Regional Director, Peter Boshier, visited the Control Yuan on August 13 and delivered speeches at the planery meeting on August 14, 2018, engaging in open and friendly discussions with the CY members.
On August 13, President Chang Po-ya welcomed the Ombudsmen with sincerity and briefed them on the CY’s functions and powers, such as investigation, receipts of people’s complaints, impeachment, censure and auditing, to make the guests have more understanding of our supervision system. President Chang also noted that in the past 23 years the CY has had a close relationship with the IOI since joining the IOI in 1994.
The Ombudsmen were impressed that the CY is a constitutional government organ and has more powers than other ombudsmen around the world. Mr. Field replied that the CY has the most unique supervision system in the world and other countries would learn a lot from its functions and powers. He was also delighted to see the long-term relationship and friendship between the CY and the IOI, hoping that there would be more exchanges of good governance and human rights protection in the future. The Ombudsmen and several CY members also exchanged views on issues related to human rights protection and aboriginals.
In the speech on August 14 entitled, “The Role of the Ombudsman in Promoting Good Governance and Protecting Human Rights”, Mr. Field first indicated that the existence of the Ombudsman is promoting good governance and protecting human rights, ensuring the government policy is enable to protect the well-beings and rights of people. In doing so, the impartiality and independence of the Ombudsman is essential. And the decision-making of the Ombudsman is only based on the law and the facts. Mr. Field also pointed out how to promote good governance at the global level. The IOI now represents over 180 Ombudsman institutions in more than 90 countries. The IOI, promoting the concepts of supervision and human rights, disseminating good governance and human rights protection, has bridged the Ombudsman institutions worldwide.
Secondly, Peter Boshier, the APOR Regional Director of the IOI, emphasized the importance of anti-corruption in the Asia-Pacific region in his speech entitled, “The Growing Importance of Leadership Codes in the Pacific.” Although New Zealand has come in at number one on the Transparency International perceptions of corruption index, however, it is rare in the Asia-Pacific region. The key challenge that most countries in the region has faced is corruption. Therefore, the development of leadership codes and the role of Ombudsman can ensure the establishment of an effective and clean government.
In order to learn more about our supervision, anti-corruption and auditing systems, the Ombudsmen also visited other government agencies such as the Agency Against Corruption and National Audit Office and had cultural visit. The Ombudsmen both expressed that visiting the CY and other government organs was a rare and best opportunity to exchange experiences and enhance relationship and collaboration with the CY. They also expressed the hope that there would be more cooperation on working to promote good governance and safeguard human rights.