Werner Amon, Chair of the Austrian Ombudsman Board, is the IOI's Secretary General since July 2019.
The role of Ombudsman institutions is to protect the people against the violation of rights, abuse of powers, unfair decisions and maladministration.
[4] In its effort to focus on good governance and capacity building, the IOI supports its members in a threefold way: training, research and regional subsidies for projects.
The General Secretariat is located in Vienna (Austria) and is run by the Austrian Ombudsman Board (Volksanwaltschaft) since 2009.
[5] In 2020, the General Assembly of United Nations "recognized that the role of Ombudsman and mediator institutions, whether they are national human rights institutions or not, is the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, promotion of good governance and respect for the rule of law".