“Section 7 of the Law provides that the Board shall be composed of seven members appointed by the Government for a period of five years and a Director, appointed by the Board.

Section 8 of the Law provides for a pluralistic composition of the Board. The Government shall request proposals for membership of the Board from the SIHR Advisory Council, the Swedish Bar Association and universities.

The SIHR reports that in practice, the government has appointed candidates to the Board following their nomination by the relevant entities. However, the SCA notes that the Law is silent on the procedure by which Board members are selected by nominating entities. The Law is also silent on the procedure by which the Board members are subsequently appointed by the Government.

The SIHR has recommended to the Government of Sweden, in view of the forthcoming selection of members, to clarify in writing the procedures for appointing Board members and that in the longer term, there is a need to clarify the provisions on the appointment of Board members in sections 6-8 of the enabling law, by including supplementary provisions. The SCA recommends that the SIHR continue its engagement with the government and advocate for the formalisation of a clear, transparent and participatory nomination, selection and appointment process that promotes merit-based selection in relevant legislation, regulations, or binding administrative guidelines

The SCA further notes that providing for different stakeholders to select members according to their rules of operation may result in different entities using different processes for selection. The SCA recommends that the nomination processes are conducted in line with the Paris Principles including uniform criteria.

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.”