7 CDL-AD(2013)019 Principles, a National Human Rights Institution should be vested with the competence to promote and protect human rights, and have a broad human rights mandate. Further, the composition of such institution should reflect the principles of pluralism, and it should be independent, in particular financially independent, from Government. 14. The need for effective, independent, and pluralistic national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights has also been reiterated most recently in the UN Human Rights Council’s Resolution 20/14 on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights2, and numerous resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly.3 15. In the Council of Europe area, the Committee of Ministers also recommended to Member States to establish effective national human rights institutions, “in particular human rights commissions which are pluralist in their membership, ombudsmen, or comparable institutions”.4 Within the OSCE region, OSCE participating States have likewise committed to facilitate the establishment and strengthening of independent national institutions in the area of human rights and rule of law.5 2. Main Tasks of the Higher Committee 16. The Higher Committee in Tunisia, as stated in Article 2 of the Law, provides opinions on issues received from the President of Tunisia; these may be any issues relating to the consolidation and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Higher Committee also draws attention to cases of human rights violations, and submits to the President proposals likely to consolidate human rights and fundamental freedoms at a national and international level, including such that lead to (national and international) human rights compliance of laws and practices. It is moreover tasked to carry out assignments entrusted to it in this field by the President, receive and examine requests and complaints pertaining to human rights issues, hear, as necessary, persons lodging such complaints, and send the complaints on to a competent authority for submission to courts. The Higher Committee likewise advises persons requesting assistance and complainants on how to have their rights recognized. Reports on the above activities are then submitted to the President. 17. Further tasks are listed in Article 3 of the Law, namely research functions, preparation of draft reports on behalf of Tunisia to the United Nations bodies and committees, and followup to such reports, human rights awareness-raising, as well as the preparation and implementation of national action plans and programmes on human rights. 18. It is welcomed that, in the current process of establishing a new Constitution for Tunisia, the improvement of the legal framework pertaining to the operation of a national human rights institution has been considered. The most recent draft of the Constitution of Tunisia (dated 1 June 2013) contains a specific provision on the so-called “constitutional bodies”, which are independent structures aiming to “strengthen democracy”. They shall 2 th Adopted at the Human Rights Council’s 20 session on 16 July 2012. See also the Human Rights Commission’s Resolution 2005/74, adopted at its 59th meeting on 20 April 2005. 3 See the following UN General Assembly resolution: nos. 63/169 and 65/207 on the role of the Ombudsman, mediator and other national human rights institutions in the promotion and protection of human rights (adopted at st the 70th plenary meeting on 18 December 2008 and the 71 plenary meeting on 21 December 2010 respectively), and nos. 63/172 and 64/161 on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (adopted at the 70th plenary meeting on 18 December 2008, and the 65th plenary meeting on 18 December 2009 respectively). 4 Recommendation No. R (97) 14 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Establishment of Independent Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 5 See the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, Copenhagen, 29 June 1990, par 27. See also the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 10/07 on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination: Promoting Mutual Respect and Understanding (30 November 2007), par 10, in which participating States are encouraged to establish national institutions or specialized bodies to combat intolerance and discrimination. See also the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision 14/04, OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality (7 December 2004), Art. 44 (g), focusing on the establishment of democratic institutions to advance gender equality, such as Ombudsman’s offices at local and national levels.