An ombudsman is a government official 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. 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 "umboðsmaður", the
Norwegian "ombudsmann" and the Danish "ombudsmand". An ombudsman
doesn't necessarily have to be appointed by government, but an
ombudsman of an non-governmental organization, whether working
only for the own m