can only provide advice or make recommendations. If their advice is not followed or routinely ignored, their credibility will suffer. These kinds of institutions are found mainly in Europe, but also in Africa, especially in countries where French is spoken. 5. Institutes and centres A few institutions fall into the category of human rights institutes or centres. Like consultative commissions, human rights institutes or centres tend to have a very broad membership that brings diverse representatives of society together. They have not traditionally had the power to deal with individual complaints. They differ from consultative commissions in that the broad membership does not usually participate directly in decision-making, which is left to a professional staff, but rather sets the general policy framework within which the centre operates. Centres also tend to focus more on human rights research. 6. Multiple institutions An increasingly common phenomenon is multiple institutions in the same country with responsibility for promoting and protecting specific rights (e.g., rights related to gender, children or indigenous peoples). Coordination among such NHRIs is recommended so that their functions and powers are used in a way that ensures the protection and promotion of human rights. The International Coordinating Committee and its Sub-Committee on Accreditation have acknowledged this development, which occurs in several regions of the world, and noted that when dealing with multiple national institutions, there are demonstrated strategies for improving collaboration, including memorandums of understanding or other agreements to address overlaps of competences and handle complaints or issues, and informal arrangements in which institutions transfer individual cases to the most relevant mechanism. This is the case in some countries where ombudsman institutions and NHRIs coexist (although care should be taken to ensure that complainants are not sent from pillar to post). Speaking at the Ninth International Ombudsman Institute World Conference in June 2009, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights affirmed that: OHCHR also recognizes the important contribution that ombudsman institutions can make as another element in the national human rights protection system—even without an explicit mandate of human rights protection—given their role in ensuring Government accountability and strengthening the rule of law. Many human rights abuses are indeed connected with maladministration, administrative malfeasance, or a lack of Government accountability. The essential notion of procedural fairness, which underpins the administrative law that ombudsman institutions are mandated to uphold, is thus key to protecting the rights of individuals in their interactions with public authorities. For NHRIs that have full mandates but are divided territorially, formal networks can enable them to speak with one voice at the national level. 19