Guidebook THE MANDATE AND ROLE OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS A detailed analysis of such methods would go beyond the scope of this research, but in the course of this project several ways of cooperation were mentioned, including: »» Establishment of working groups and conducting regular meetings »» Exchange of the respecting findings »» Access to the same information management system (e.g. Slovenia and Portugal) »» Joint activities, e.g. joint visits, joint complaints handling. With academia: Netherlands The Dutch NHRI Institute cooperated with the Leiden University to draft its legislative position on persons with a disability in the criminal procedure. 275 With NGOs: Finland In Finland the Parliamentary Ombudsman is also the NPM and that accordingly the complaints handling and the work of the NPM are automatically combined. Further, ‘[if], during a visit, something has arisen that needed investigating, the Ombudsman has taken up the investigation of the matter on his/her own initiative for further action.’270 The same was reported to be the case with the monitoring mandate under the CRPD. 271 Croatia In Croatia the Ombudsman, within its OPCAT mandate, can involve other domestic human rights bodies in its activities, and has done so by conducting joint visits with representatives of the Ombuds on Children and for Persons with Disabilities. 272 This is seen as a way to avoid possible overlaps and better assess the rights of children and persons in a situation of vulnerability. 2.6. The Polish NHRI cooperated with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights for the preparation of an alternative Letter of Rights for suspects and accused. 276 Slovenia and Lithuania Further, some NPMs often involve NGOs representatives in their monitoring visits, including in the drafting of their visiting reports277 With lawyers: Croatia The Croatian NHRI cooperated with lawyers in the form of joint training. 278 The role of NHRIs vis-à-vis civil society As mentioned above, NHRIs are explicitly mandated to cooperate with other national actors, including not only other specialised bodies, but also civil society and non-governmental organizations.273 Relevant actors in the field of procedural rights may be, for example, NGOs, academia, professional associations including lawyers, doctors, and translators.274 In practice, civil society often complements the expertise of the NHRIs. 60 Poland More generally, civil society also represents an important source of information for NHRIs. Practices in this regard were fewer and NHRIs mentioned several challenges, including for example the fact that reports by NGOs may not always be evidence based. 279 But many NHRIs have recognised that civil society represent an important source of practical information and expressed willingness to cooperate more. Lawyers have been identified as a particularly strong partner in the promotion and protection of procedural safeguards but many NHRIs mentioned that lawyers are often very difficult to reach.280 One interesting case of cooperation with lawyers comes from the practice of the Spanish NPM. 61