OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Act on the Independent National Human Rights Institution of Iceland in the media currently mentioned in Article 3 (e) of the Draft Act. Unless Article 3 is given a broad interpretation, these aspects do not seem to be adequately covered and the drafters should consider supplementing the Draft Act accordingly. 32. Some human rights monitoring bodies have recommended that the future Icelandic NHRI should have “a specific mandate to promote and protect women’s rights”.31 The legal drafters should discuss whether to expressly include this, also in light of the mandates of other entities pertaining to gender equality and anti-discrimination (see also pars 19 supra and 35 infra).32 In any case, the future NHRI should mainstream gender and diversity33 into its broader work of protecting and promoting human rights.34 This could be expressly included in the Draft Act as a general aim of the NHRI. 33. It would also be useful if the NHRI would also be mandated to apply to the Icelandic constitutional court for an abstract judgment on questions concerning the constitutionality of laws or other regulatory acts which raise issues affecting human rights and freedoms.35 The right of the NHRI to appear as a third party in domestic and international judicial proceedings could also be included, especially in cases raising important issues concerning human rights matters of a systemic or structural character.36 Some other functions could also include assistance to victims taking cases to courts or strategic litigation. These aspects could be added to Article 3 of the Draft Act. This may also require amendments to other relevant legislation, that would allow the NHRI to have proper access to files and other documents related to the case prior to submitting amicus curiae briefs. Courts should be obliged to deal with and respond to the NHRI’s arguments in the written reasoning of their decisions. 3.2. The Lack of a Complaints-Handling Mandate 34. Article 3 par 2 of the Draft Act explicitly excludes from the mandate of the NHRI the handling of individual complaints alleging human rights violations. This is not contrary to international standards, since the Paris Principles do not require that NHRIs shall be able to receive complaints or petitions from individuals or groups regarding alleged violations of their human rights.37 35. It is understood from the Explanatory Report to the Draft Act that this provision aims to avoid overlap with the mandates of various other entities. Indeed, it is noted that several other bodies are competent to receive individual complaints, including the Althing 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 See the Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice on its Mission to Iceland, A/HRC/26/39/Add.1, 16 September 2014, par 100 (a) (ii), available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session26/Documents/A-HRC-26-39-Add1_en.doc. For instance, the “Icelandic Centre for Gender Equality requires all official institutions and private companies with 25 employees or more to have a Gender Equality Action Plan. The Centre monitors the performance of employers over time to assess their progress. In cases on non-compliance, it can impose fines on companies that do not send their action plan within a prescribed period of time”; see op. cit. footnote 16, page 31 (2012 OSCE/ODIHR Handbook for NHRIs on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality). The Draft Act should clarify how the future NHRI will complement this work of the Centre for Gender Equality. i.e., assessing the implication of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, for women and men, and other persons or groups in a specific situation or facing specific challenges, such as persons with disabilities, older persons, children, members of national or ethnic minorities, stateless persons, foreigners, asylum-seekers, refugees and other persons potentially discriminated on other grounds such as sexual orientation or gender identity. For instance, NHRIs can implement gender mainstreaming by developing gender/diversity-assessment strategies or impact analyses for draft legislation and existing laws, policies, programmes and activities; see op. cit. footnote 16, pages 50-51 (2012 OSCE/ODIHR Handbook for NHRIs on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality). See Venice Commission, Opinion on the Draft Law on Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted by the Venice Commission at its 104th Plenary Session (Venice, 23-24 October 2015), CDL-AD(2015)034, par 36, available at http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD(2015)034-e. See op. cit. footnote 14, pages 4 and 185 (2010 UNDP-OHCHR Toolkit for Collaboration with National Human Rights Institutions). See the Justification to General Observation 2.10. 12