Kralendijk- Yesterday evening at Landhuis Wanapa on the Kaminda Sorobon, the international conference of the Caribbean Ombudsman Association (CAROA) was officially opened by island-governor of Bonaire, Edison Reina.

The Dutch Ombudsman organization, which is also responsible for the ombudstask on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba is part of the organization and is also in charge of organizing this year’s conference.

The CAROA was founded in the year 2002 and has as main goal to strengthen national ombudsman organizations in the Caribbean. This, according to the organization, can be achieved by creating a strong network and that is exactly the goal of CAROA. The exchange of experience and knowledge between the various ombudsman organizations is also one of the goals.

This year’s conference has as title “The Ombudsman as Key actor in the quest for Good Governance & Challenges facing modern-day Ombudsman”. The themes discussed during the conference are Ombudsman relationships, Challenges facing the ombudsman, Networking and Non-traditional issues facing the Ombudsman institutions. The conference can count on the participation of quite some Ombudsman from the Caribbean region.