The members of the AOB take stock 2.2 Ombudsman Günther Kräuter The Austrian Ombudsman Board as an institution is “constantly learning” and in permanent motion. It takes on international and domestic suggestions and views them as enrichment for its own development processes. Looking back at 2014, during which I had the honour of being responsible for the further development of the AOB as one of its members and also for the work in my area of competence, I can assert with a clear conscience that there was an enormous amount of movement. In addition to a sharp rise in the number of complaints, under my leadership, we significantly enhanced the AOB’s public presence by redesigning the website and the regular newsletter. By opening the AOB for school classes and other groups interested in our work, my colleagues and I have created the requirements for even more direct and low-threshold contact. I would like to thank the commissions, the Human Rights Advisory Council and everyone else who fostered and supported these activities by way of creative, critical or confirming remarks. In particular, I owe a debt of thanks to the staff of the AOB, all of whom identify with the objectives of the organisation and who implement these objectives with a great deal of motivation and commitment despite their increasing work load. Another important project that has aroused keen public interest and that I am extremely committed to both personally and as a responsible stakeholder is the participation of the AOB as the national human rights institution in the development of a National Action Plan for Human Rights. The public is being informed about the progress of this project on the AOB website on an ongoing basis. The AOB functions as a platform and a bridge between NGOs and representatives of the government (see pp. 38 et seq.). According to the current social report, more than 1.5 million people or 18% of the population are facing poverty and the risk of exclusion. When housing and living costs rise due to inflation and (transfer) income does not keep pace, existential fears increase and, at the same time, the many deficits of the social net that is supposed to prevent poverty become more visible. In conversations with many complainants, NGOs that operate in the social sector, self-help groups and in written petitions, I often see that in the current crisis people of all ages see themselves pushed to the fringes of society; they fear for their future perspectives and/or are already heavily impacted by poverty. The dramatic downturn and the negative changes on the labour market unfortunately made another significant contribution to the fact that for many, gainful employment does not provide adequate social security or does so only in the short term. This does not only affect atypical employment relationships (fixed-term work, marginal employment, part-time or temporary work, internships and volunteer jobs, contract work or new kinds of self-employment and similar types of jobs), but also so-called “normal employment relationships” in the low-wage sector. I attribute the substantial 12