OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Federal Law on the Support to the National Human Rights Institution of Switzerland terms and conditions of office, including the terms of remuneration; [pars 64 and 67-75] F. to amend and supplement Article 5 to specify that the NHRI’s governing body and its staff should be gender balanced and representative of Swiss society’s social, ethnic, religious and geographic diversity at all levels of responsibility, while also reflecting diverse professions and backgrounds; [par 79] and G. to include provisions regarding the NHRI’s financial autonomy, meaning that the allocated budgetary funds – contained in a separate budget line dedicated only to the NHRI – should be such as to ensure the full, independent and effective discharge of the responsibilities and functions of the institution, which shall include the allocation of funds for the NHRI’s own premises, while ensuring the NHRI’s autonomous management of such budgetary allocation and considering the introduction of safeguards to protect against unwarranted budgetary cutbacks. [pars 85-88] Additional Recommendations, highlighted in bold, are also included in the text of the opinion. IV. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1. International Standards on National Human Rights Institutions 13. NHRIs hold a crucial position among the range of institutions that form the infrastructure of a democratic system based on the rule of law and human rights. 5 As independent bodies with a constitutional and/or legislative mandate to protect and promote human rights, they are considered a “key component of effective national human rights protection systems and indispensable actors for the sustainable promotion and protection of human rights at the country level”.6 Thus, NHRIs link the responsibilities of the State stemming from international human rights obligations to the rights of individuals in the country and constitute “a bridge between government and civil society, as well as between the national and international systems”.7 Although part of the state apparatus, NHRIs’ independence from the executive, legislative and judicial branches ensures that they are able to fulfil their mandate. 14. However, whether an NHRI can play its role within the state to the full extent depends on many political, social and legal factors. Such an institution must occupy a proper place within the national institutional framework, while having a sufficiently broad scope of competence, as well as a range of powers and means allowing it to effectively carry out its mandate and stimulate the legal sphere and practice in the human rights field. An important characteristic of an effectively operating institution of this type must be its independence, including financial independence, from other branches of 5 6 7 See e.g., the Joint Statement from the Expert Meeting on Strengthening Independence of National Human Rights Institutions in the OSCE Region, 28- 29 November 2016, Warsaw, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/289941?download=true>, which states that “a strong and independent NHRI is a necessary feature of any state that underpins good governance and justice, as well as human rights”. See UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Report to the UN General Assembly (2007), A/62/36, par 15, <https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/policy_and_research/un/62/A_62_36_EN.pdf>. Op. cit. footnote 5 (2016 Joint Statement). 6