International conferences Conferences on topics with a special focus In 2011, the AOB was represented at numerous international conferences that were focused on the areas within its mandate. For example, an UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) conference in Istanbul in March 2011 dealt with questions surrounding equality for women, with Ombudswoman Brinek attending. This topic was also the focus of an OSCE workshop in Prague in March. Questions relating to migration were at the centre of a meeting in May 2011 in Athens that had been initiated by the Council of Europe; rights for people with disabilities and legal guardianship were the focus of a conference in Croatia in October 2011. AOB experts made significant contributions to these events. Regional ombudsman conferences The members of the AOB intensified the sharing of experience and information within the scope of major regional ombudsman conferences. In September 2011, Ombudsman Kostelka visited Novi Sad (Serbia) to take part in a conference of the European Ombudsman Institute. Ombudswoman Stoisits and Ombudsman Kostelka took part in the 8th National Seminar of the European Network of Ombudsmen in October 2011 in Copenhagen, which was dedicated to the subject “Law, politics and the ombudspersons in the Lisbon era”. In his function as the Secretary General of the I.O.I., Ombudsman Kostelka also attended the 26th Conference of the Australasian and Pacific Region of the I.O.I. in Taipei, and subsequently, travelled to Bangkok for meetings with the Thai ombudsman institution. 40