Page 199 - kdk-sempozyum-3

judicial power. And therefore many of the ombudsman offices are
also the NHRIs or national human rights institution whether they are
granted status A or B.

I would say the biggest difference between ombudsman and the NHRI
is the fact that the NHRIs has to have strong mandate in promotion
and protection of human rights which is of course why in its definition
than simply, well not simply than observing good governance and
investigation the potential cases of maladministration. So being NHRI
goes in a way beyond just ombudsman work. Of course there is a
need for minimal standards for an office to become NHRI. They are
known as Paris Principles and I am sure many of you have already
familiar yourself with it. There are six main criteria that an institution
should meet in order to be grounded status of NHRI and become
successful. They are listed on the slide and I will briefly explain some
of them. Mandate and competence means that the institution should
have as broad mandate as possible. And it should be drawn from the
international documents that relate to human rights. Of course, certain
limitations can be posed that doesn’t mean that each institution should
reckon all human rights that outlined in the international documents
of course.

My office for example does not work in the field of rights of child, 3 rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTIONS
rights of people with disabilities and gender equality and LGBT rights
because in Croatia we have separate ombuds institutions for those
groups of rights. Of course the mandate should be set forth in the
constitution preferably in the constitution but then operationalized
in the legislation. The NHRIs should be able not just to scrutinize the
government but also to criticize it but I am sure that is something very
familiar to our day to day ombudsman’s work.

Independence should be guaranteed by legislation or by constitution
which is also very similar to the ombudsman function. That means
that it should have legal operation and financial autonomy. And the
appointment and dismissal procedures should be really strict and also
in the legislation and that the mandate should be stable.

Pluralism including through membership and effecting cooperation
means that the offices should have diverse staff. It should establish
cooperation with different groups in society specially marginalized

16 - 17 September 2015, ANKARA | 197