Ombudsman

An ombudsman is an official, usually but not always appointed by the government, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens. The term arose from its use in Sweden, with the Parliamentary ombudsman instituted in 1809 to safeguard the rights of citizens by establishing a supervisory agency independent of the executive branch. The word ombudsman and its specific meaning has since been adopted in to English as well as other languages, and ombudsmen has been instituted by other governments and organizations such as the European Union.

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The origin of the word is found in Old Norse and the word umbuds man, meaning representative. The first preserved use in Swedish is from 1552. It is also used in the other Scandinavian languages such as the Icelandic "umbo?sma?ur", the Norwegian "ombudsmann" and the Danish "ombudsmand".

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An ombudsman doesn't have to be appointed by government; they may work for a corporation, a newspaper, an NGO, or even for the general public. Such an ombudsman obviously does not carry any governmental powers or sanction abilities.

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Sweden: The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: ') is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak Strait and the Kattegat Strait on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia on the east. Sweden has a low populatio...

Parliamentary ombudsman: The Parliamentary Ombudsman (, ) is an authority in Finland and in Sweden, charged with the supervision of the public authorities. The terms JO (Justitieombudsmannen) in Swedish and EOA (Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies) in Finnish refer both to the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen and to an individua...

1809: 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar)....