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This update includes information regarding NHRIs’ involvement in national legislation. The involvement of NHRIs in national legislation is particularly relevant for their role in national checks and balances. The European Commission highlighted the significance of this in its 2024 Rule of Law Report. This involvement can take various forms and may occur at different stages (ex ante or ex post). Therefore, NHRIs were asked about their contributions to human rights impact assessments of different legislative options, the legal scrutiny of concrete legislative drafts and evaluations of the implementation of adopted legislation.
Of the 34 answers received, 26 NHRIs were, at some point of the legislative and decision-making process, involved in advising on national legislation. 16 NHRIs were involved at all stages: human rights impact assessment, legal scrutiny and evaluation of adopted laws. Table 7 gives an overview of the involvement of NHRIs in the legislative process.
Table 7 – NHRIs involved in national legislation: type of contribution in 2024
NHRI (or nearest equivalent) |
Human rights impact assessment of different legislative options in the legislative process |
Legal scrutiny of concrete legislative drafts |
Evaluations of the implementation of adopted legislation |
Austrian Ombudsman Board |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Federal Human Rights Institute Belgium |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Interfederal Equal Opportunities Centre Unia (Belgium) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Commission for Protection against Discrimination (Bulgaria) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Commissioner for Administration and the Protection of Human Rights (Cyprus) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Public Defender of Rights (Czechia) |
|
Yes |
|
Danish Institute for Human Rights |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Chancellor of Justice (Estonia) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Finnish Human Rights Centre |
|
Yes |
|
Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (France) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Commissioner for Fundamental Rights (Hungary) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission |
|
Yes |
Yes |
National Guarantor for the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty (Italy) |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Latvia |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
The Seimas Ombudsperson’s Office (Lithuania) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Netherlands Institute for Human Rights |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Commissioner for Human Rights (Poland) |
|
Yes |
Yes |
People’s Advocate (Romania) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Slovak National Centre for Human Rights |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Swedish Institute for Human Rights |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
People’s Advocate of the Republic of Albania
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
The Ombudsman of the Republic of North Macedonia |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Source: FRA, December 2024.