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Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman Mats Melin Visits Taiwan

  • PostDate:2009-02-11

At the invitation of the Control Yuan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Mr. Mats Melin, Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman of Sweden, visited Taiwan on February 9, 2009 for five days. In addition to calling on the President of the R.O.C., he will visit the Control Yuan, Ministry of Audit, the Legislative Yuan, Ministry of Justice, Taoyuan Women’s Prison and Taipei City Police Department. Besides, Mr. Melin will deliver two speeches separately in the Plenary Meeting of the Control Yuan and MOFA. Mr. Melin will leave Taiwan on February 13. Sweden is the origin of the western idea “ombudsmanship”. The Parliamentary Ombudsman has been founded since 1809 and has a history of 200 years. The Parliamentary Ombudsman acts as the representative of Parliament to supervise the administration and can prosecute judges and officials of state who discharge of their duties. The function of the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman Office is distinguishing and it is the model of global ombudsman institutions. Mr. Melin has been the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman of Sweden since 2004. He also held various posts in Swedish Courts of law and as legal advisor on constitutional law to the Minister of Justice. He was also the legal secretary to a Parliamentary Commission studying the constitutional consequences of a Swedish accession to the European Union. He was appointed Chief judge at the Svea Court of Appeal, Stockholm and then named Justice of the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court. His visit and exchange views on ombudsmanship and EU constitution with related authorities in Taiwan contributes significantly to us.