“In accordance with Articles 273 of the Constitution and 10 of the Law, the Procurador is elected by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Congress from amongst three candidates proposed by the Commission on Human Rights of Congress. 

The SCA is of the view that the selection and appointment process contained in the Law is not sufficiently broad and transparent in that it does not: 

– require the advertisement of vacancies; and 

– specify the process for achieving broad consultation and/or participation in the application, screening, selection and appointment process. 

It is critically important to ensure the formalization of a clear, transparent and participatory selection and appointment process for an NHRI’s decision-making body in relevant legislation, regulations or binding administrative guidelines, as appropriate. 

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

a) Publicize vacancies broadly; 

b) Maximize the number of potential candidates from a wide range of societal groups and educational qualifications; 

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

d) Assess applicants on the basis of pre-determined, objective and publicly-available criteria. 

With respect to the involvement of civil society in the parliamentary process for selecting the Procurador, the SCA is of the view that this involvement should be direct rather than through members of parliament. This could be achieved, for example by: 

– directly soliciting proposals from civil society; or 

– allowing civil society to directly participate in the evaluation process.”