Article 16 of the Ombudsman Act requires the ORC to submit annual or thematic reports to Parliament. Article 44 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament mandates the plenary of Parliament to debate ORC reports, however, Parliament has delayed in debating the ORC Annual Report of 2023, and 2024 and the 2022 COVID-19 Special Report, while the 2022 Annual report was debated only in June 2025.The ORC indicated that it is advocating for an amendment to the Rules of Procedure of Parliament to require the annual report to be discussed in the plenary in the year it is presented and ensure a timely consideration and debate of the ORC reports, including thematic reports, at plenary.

The SCA is of the view that the enabling laws of an NHRI should establish a process whereby its reports are required to be widely circulated, discussed and considered by the legislature so that public authorities are encouraged to respond to recommendations from NHRIs in a timely manner.

The SCA recommends that the ORC continue to advocate for appropriate amendments to the Rules of Procedure of Parliament for timely debate in plenary of the ORC’s annual and thematic reports.The SCA refers to Paris Principle A.3 and General Observation 1.11 on ‘Annual reports of NHRIs’