“Article 4(1) of the Ombudsman’s enabling legislation states that the Mejlis (Parliament) elects the Ombudsman from among three candidates proposed by the President of Turkmenistan. The Ombudsman reported that, in practice, vacancies for the Ombudsman are publicized on the website of the Ministry of Labour and the President invites ministries, departments, and public associations to propose candidates for election as Ombudsman.
The SCA is of the view that the current selection and appointment procedure is not sufficiently broad and transparent. In particular:
- It does not provide for the publicization of vacancies
- It does not establish mechanisms for consultation with or the participation of civil society in the process of selecting candidates.
The SCA is concerned that the selection of the three candidates for presentation to the Mejlis (Parliament) is under the control of the President and that the Law does not outline the process, nor does it require open and fair consultation with civil society. The SCA is of the view that selection and appointment process should be under the control of an independent and credible body and involve open and fair consultation with NGOs and civil society.
The SCA encourages the Ombudsman to advocate for the formalization and implementation of a process that includes requirements to publicize vacancies and to promote broad consultation and participation of civil society organizations in the application, screening, selection, and appointment of the Ombudsman. The SCA also recommends that the Ombudsman advocate for amendments to its enabling law to ensure that the selection process of the three candidates be conducted by an independent body in a process that requires open and transparent consultations with civil society.
The SCA refers to Paris Principle B.1 and its General Observations 1.8 on “Selection and appointment of the decision-making body of NHRIs.”