OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Federal Law on the Support to the National Human Rights Institution of Switzerland written, decisions made, or acts performed in good faith in its official capacities (“functional immunity”). To be fully in line with the Paris Principles, the legal drafters should also broaden the scope of the NHRI’s mandate to cover not only the promotion of human rights but also a protection mandate. The Draft Act should further be supplemented to ensure that the NHRI has the powers to perform its mandate, to guarantee the institution’s financial independence and autonomy in human resources management as well as to ensure its pluralist and gender-balanced composition at all levels. 12. In order to ensure full compliance of the Draft Act with international standards on NHRIs and good practices, the OSCE/ODIHR makes the following key recommendations: A. to reconsider the contemplated scheme whereby the NHRI is attached to universities or higher education institutions and whereby the NHRI’s funding is granted on the basis of a contract between the Federal Council and the NHRI governing the operating grant, and instead provide for the establishment of an autonomous and independent entity with a separate budget line; [pars 34, 39 and 87] B. to supplement Article 3 of the Draft Act by expanding the NHRI’s mandate as follows: - expressly state that the NHRI will be vested with competences to both protect and promote human rights, while specifying that this will include monitoring, inquiring, investigating, advising and reporting on human rights violations; [pars 47-49] - include an explicit mandate to cover acts and omissions of both the public and private sectors; [par 50] - provide that the NHRI should encourage the ratification or accession to international instruments and their effective implementation, as well as promote and encourage the harmonization of national legislation and practices with these instruments, and reporting in this field; [par 51] - specify more clearly key aspects relating to co-operation at the domestic and international levels, including co-operation with civil society and nongovernmental organizations, and with the UN and other international/regional human rights mechanisms; [pars 54-55] C. to supplement the Draft Act by providing that all legal entities in Switzerland shall communicate to the NHRI any document or information deemed necessary to perform its mandate, while granting the NHRI unannounced and free access to inspect and examine any public premises, documents, equipment and assets without prior written notice, and providing for sanctions in case of violation; [pars 61-62] D. to clearly specify in the Draft Act that the members of the NHRI’s governing body and NHRI staff shall benefit from functional immunity, even after the end of their mandate or employment with the NHRI, while also setting out clear rules and procedures for lifting such immunity; [pars 43-46] E. to lay out in the Draft Act the composition of the NHRI’s governing body, with due regard to the principle of pluralism, the conditions and modalities of its selection/appointment and termination of mandate or dismissal, as well as the 5