“Article 22(1) of the Law stipulates that the Ombudsman is mandated to handle complaints that are submitted within one year from the date when the applicant was made aware about the infringement of his rights, freedoms and lawful interests, or the date of the last adjudication of his complaints…’ The Ombudsman notes that the Law allows them to extend this period for up to six months. The SCA is of the view that Article 22(1) of the Law limits the ability of the Ombudsman to consider historical or continuing human rights violations and can potentially deny victims access to a remedy for victims of human rights violations.

Also, the Law of the Ombudsman is silent on its mandate to consider and process complaints from private actors. The SCA takes note of information by the Ombudsman that it has created a new department to address human rights violations by private entities and is advocating for amendments to its enabling legislation to expand its mandate to consider violations committed by the private sector.

While the Ombudsman notes that the powers of the Ombudsman can be exercised by staff, the SCA is concerned of observation by the Human Rights Committee in 2023 that staff of the Ombudsman has no mandate to conduct or participate in monitoring visits to places of detention.

The SCA emphasizes that the mandate of an NHRI should extend to acts and omission of both public and private sectors and should authorize the full investigation of all alleged human rights violations

The SCA recommends that the Ombudsman continues to advocate for amendments to its enabling legislation to provide it with the authority to consider violations committed by the private sector.

The SCA recommends that the Ombudsman advocate for amendment to the enabling law to extend the timeframe in which the Ombudsman can consider complaints beyond the current one-year limit. The SCA also recommends that the Law be amended to explicitly grant the staff of the Ombudsman the authority to independently conduct or participate in monitoring visits to places of detention.

The SCA refers to Paris Principles A.1, A.2, and to its General Observation 1.2 on ‘Human rights mandate’.”