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29
April
2025

NHRI Accreditation Status and Mandates – 2025 update

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National human rights institutions (NHRIs) continue to play a key role in upholding fundamental rights. The European Commission referred to NHRIs as a ‘core element in the system of checks and balances’ in its 2023 annual rule of law report and highlighted in its 2024 annual rule of law report that ‘many Member States have made progress in strengthening the role of independent institutions, such as ombudspersons and national human rights bodies.’

The mandate of the NHRIs is based on the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s Paris Principles of 1993 (Principles Relating to the Status of National Human Rights Institutions). They provide the basis for assessing the independence and effectiveness of national human rights institutions. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions uses the Paris Principles to determine the international accreditation status of NHRIs, distinguishing between A-level NHRIs (full compliance with the Paris Principles) and B-level NHRIs (partial compliance with the Paris Principles).

The 2020–2030 strategy to strengthen the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU underscored the importance of strong and independent NHRIs for the application, implementation and promotion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’). This was also later reinforced through the 2021 Council conclusions, which encouraged ‘Member States that have not yet established independent NHRIs in accordance with the Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (“Paris Principles”) to do so, recalling also indicator 16.a.1 of the SDGs’.

Considering the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ (FRA) mandate and the central role that NHRIs play in the protection and promotion of fundamental rights at the national level, regular updates on the accreditation status and tasks of NHRIs are essential to keep track of the changes in the human rights landscape. For more than 10 years, FRA has conducted research and capacity building work to strengthen NHRIs. Following the 2012 publication National Human Rights Institutions in the EU Member States – Strengthening the fundamental rights architecture in the EU I, the agency published a report in 2020 on Strong and Effective National Human Rights Institutions – Challenges, promising practices and opportunities. Since then, it has provided regular updates on the accreditation status and the mandates of the NHRIs and engaged in capacity building through peer-to-peer learning projects. For more information see FRA’s Supporting national human rights institutions in monitoring fundamental rights and the fundamental rights aspects of the rule of law (fra.europa.eu).

This update on NHRIs covers the accreditation status (Section 1), the mandates (Section 2), the role of NHRIs in the context of EU funds (Section 3), the use of the Charter (Section 4) and the involvement of NHRIs in national legislation (Section 5). In this latest update, the data used for two countries (Hungary and Luxembourg) remains consistent with that provided in the 2024 update, as both institutions reported that no changes were observed during the reporting period.


Methodology

The information contained in this report was collected through primary and secondary sources:

  • primary sources: questionnaires sent to NHRIs;
  • secondary sources: desk research.

 

FRA collected data through questionnaires sent to NHRIs in the EU Member States and the three accession countries currently falling within FRA’s mandate – Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. This was carried out between November 2024 and January 2025. Overall, 34 NHRIs received FRA’s questionnaire; 34 responded, although some chose not to answer all sections of the questionnaire. In the case of Italy, due to the absence of an NHRI, the questions were addressed to the Italian National Liaison Officer.