OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Seimas Ombudsmen 12. Next to the UN, the OSCE has also focused on the issue of NHRIs. As early as 1990, participating States of the OSCE (then the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)) committed to “facilitat[ing] the establishment and strengthening of independent national institutions in the area of human rights and the rule of law”.9 This was confirmed in numerous ensuing OSCE Commitments, in particular with regard to Ombuds Offices10 and with the aim of protecting the human rights of vulnerable groups such as Roma and Sinti11 and various forms of discrimination12, in particular discrimination based on gender13. 2. The Status, Position and Independence of the Ombudsmen 13. The Seimas Ombudsmen are established as constitutional figures, according to Article 73 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania14, which defines them as bodies responsible for dealing with citizens’ complaints about abuse of authority and bureaucracy by state and local government officials. Article 73 further sets out that the powers of the Ombudsmen shall be established by law. 14. The Law on the Seimas Ombudsmen thus regulates the activities and powers of the Ombudsmen, as well as the organizational structure of the Office of the Ombudsmen (Article 1). Based on Article 7 par 2 of the Law, there are two Ombudsmen who have separate fields of competence – one Ombudsman is competent to investigate activities of officials of state institutions/agencies, and the other deals with the investigation of activities of officials of municipal institutions/agencies. When appointing the Ombudsmen, the Seimas (Parliament) appoints one of the two Ombudsmen as head of the Ombudsmen’s Office (Article 28 par 1). 15. This structure is unusual when comparing it to Ombuds Offices in other OSCE participating States, which usually have one Ombudsperson assisted by one or more deputies dealing with different thematic fields.15 In such cases, the Ombudsperson heads both the substantive and the administrative part of his/her office’s work. 16. The Lithuanian model is different in that it has two Ombudsmen who are hierarchically on equal footing and jointly head a team of advisors who presumably work on cases and complaints. On the other hand, all other matters (documents and archiving, public relations, finance and maintenance, as well as human rights monitoring) are decided on by only one person, namely the head of the Ombudsmen’s Office. In case of absence, this Ombudsman is replaced by the other Ombudsman. 9 Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, Copenhagen, 29 June 1990, par 27. 10 Document of the Ninth Meeting of the Ministerial Council, Bucharest, 3-4 December 2001, Annex to the Decision on Combating Terrorism: The Bucharest Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism, par 10. 11 Document of the Eleventh Meeting of the Ministerial Council, Maastricht, 1-2 December 2003, Annex to Decision No. 3/03: Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, par 22. 12 Document of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Ministerial Council, Madrid, 29-30 November 2007, Decision 10/07 on tolerance and non-discrimination: promoting mutual respect and understanding, par 10. 13 Document of the Twelfth Meeting of the Ministerial Council, Sofia, 6-7 December 2004, see also the Annex to Ministerial Council Decision 14/04, OSCE Action Plan for the Protection of Gender Equality, par 42. 14 Op cit. note 3. 15 See, e.g., Article 15 of the Slovenian Human Rights Ombudsman Law (2-4 possible Deputy Ombudsmen), no. 40/93, adopted on 20 December 1993, Article 21 of the (up to three deputies) of the Polish Ombudsman Act, adopted on 15 July 1987, or Section 27 of the Danish Ombudsman Act, No. 473 of 12 June 1996 concerning the Ombudsman as amended by Act No. 556 of 24 June 2005 and Act No. 502 of 12 June 2009 (one Ombudsman, who may appoint temporary replacements out of his/her staff). 8