“Section 38 of the Constitution provides that the Parliament appoints the Ombudsman for a term of four years. According to Section 11 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, a vacancy for the position of Ombudsman shall be announced in the manner decided by the Speaker’s Council. The Constitutional Law Committee evaluates the candidates and if there are several candidates, an election of the Ombudsman shall be held.

While recognizing that in practice the selection process is transparent, the SCA notes that the relevant provisions in the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act are not sufficiently broad. In particular, they do not explicitly:

Section 19 c (1) of the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act provides that having received the Constitutional Law Committee’s opinion on the matter, the Ombudsman shall appoint the Director of the Human Rights Centre for a four-year term.

Section 7 of the Act on Parliament’s Civil Servants requires that the vacant post for Director is widely advertised publicly. Further, in practice, applicants’ merits are assessed, and the leading candidates are shortlisted and interviewed by the Ombudsman and Secretary-General, who further request the opinion of the Constitutional Law Committee on their proposal for the appointment.

In practice, so far, the Ombudsman has made an appointment decision on the basis of the Parliamentary Committee’s opinion. However, the SCA notes that the selection process, as provided for in the Act, is not sufficiently participatory. It does not specify the process for achieving broad consultation and/or participation in the application, screening, selection and appointment process, in particular of civil society.

The SCA recommends that the FNHRI advocate for changes in its enabling legislation to ensure that the selection and appointment of the position of Ombudsman includes the requirement to widely publicise the vacancy, and to ensure that both the position of the Ombudsman and that of Director of the HRC involves broad consultation and/or participation in the application, screening, selection and appointment process, including NGOs and civil society.

The SCA notes that Section 19 e of the of the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act provides that the HRC shall have a Human Rights Delegation, which the Ombudsman, having heard the view of the Director, shall appoint for a four-year term. In practice, the Delegation is appointed following a public call for nominations, in accordance with the criteria set out in law and the Government Bill. The tasks of the HRD include to approve annually the HRC’s operational plan and the HRC’s annual report.

The SCA notes that a process that promotes merit-based selection and ensures pluralism is necessary to ensure independence and public confidence, at all levels of the NHRI.

The SCA encourages the FNHRI to advocate for the formalization and application of a selection process for the HRD that includes requirements to:

a) Publicize vacancies broadly;

b) Promote broad consultation and/or participation in the application, screening, selection and appointment process;

The SCA refers to Paris Principle B.1 and to its General Observation 1.8 on ‘Selection and appointment of the decision-making body of NHRIs’.”