PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ombudsman of Sint Maarten, Ms. Gwendolien Mossel, recently attended the International Ombudsman Institute’s (IOI) Board of Directors meeting, which was held from May 10-12, 2022 in New York. Ms. Mossel was recently elected to the IOI Board in February of this year. The current Regional President of the Caribbean & Latin American Region is Ms. Nashieli Ramírez Hernández, President of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City.
This was the first face-to-face Board of Directors meeting since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Attending the Board meeting afforded Ms. Mossel, the opportunity to directly liaise with her colleagues from around the world regarding the various topics of the continuously evolving institution of the Ombudsman, an important pillar in the checks and balances within a democracy. Apart from membership matters, other agenda points discussed during the meeting were: cooperation and training. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the IOI and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) was signed. UNITAR and the IOI share common goals and objectives with regard to developing and strengthening institutional and organizational capacities by raising awareness and providing training and learning solutions.
The Ombudsman of Sint Maarten has benefited from training sponsored via the IOI’s subsidies program during the Caribbean Ombudsman Association (CAROA) biennial conferences in 2015, 2017, and 2019.
