OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing the Ombudsman Act of Bulgaria of rule of law.56 The UNDP-OHCHR Toolkit includes a checklist, which may be consulted in order to ensure that an adequate budget and sufficient financial autonomy is in place that allows the Ombudsman to properly fulfill his or her mandate.57 In addition, legal provisions against unwarranted budgetary cutbacks could be introduced, including, but not limited to, the principle that any reductions in the NHRI’s budget should not exceed the percentage of reduction of the budgets of the Parliament or the Government in the previous year.58 34. Finally, it is important to reiterate the Concluding Observations of the Committee of the rights of the Child, which stressed that, as Article 19 par. 9, gives the Ombudsman the mandate to protect the rights of children, the Ombudsman should be receive sufficient technical, financial and human resources to address violations of children’s human rights in an efficient and child-sensitive manner.59 In a similar fashion, it is noted that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights urged Bulgaria to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights are fully covered by the mandate of the Ombudsman and that the Ombudsman Office is provided with the “necessary resources for their effective functioning”.60 6.2. Specific Budget for the Ombudsman as a National Preventive Mechanism 35. 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Since 2012, the Ombudsman Act has stipulated that the Ombudsman shall also act as an NPM (Article 19 par 2 and Chapter four of the Ombudsman Act). In its Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms (hereinafter “NPM Guidelines”), the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides that “[w]here the body designated as the NPM performs other functions in addition to those under the [OPCAT], its NPM functions should be located within a separate unit or department, with its own staff and budget”.61 Additionally, the NPM Guidelines state that NPMs should be provided with the necessary resources to effectively operate in accordance with the OPCAT and that the NPM should enjoy complete financial and operational autonomy. 62 It is recommended to amend the Ombudsman Act, and/or the Rules of Procedure, as appropriate, in order to ensure that the NPM functions are carried out by a separate unit or department within the Ombudsman Office, with its own separate budget, allocated through a separate budget line,63 and staff. ibid. ibid. Op. cit. footnote 39, par 76 (OSCE/ODIHR NHRI Opinion Iceland); see also Venice Commission, Opinion on the draft Constitutional Law on the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, adopted by the Venice Commission at its 109th Session (Venice, 9-10 December 2016), CDL-AD(2016)033, par 69, available at http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2016)033-e. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Bulgaria, 21 November 2015, par 16, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/587ce2884.html. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding observations on the combined fourth and fifth reports of Bulgaria, adopted by the Committee at its forty-ninth session, 12-30 November 2012, par. 6, available at http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=4slQ6QSmlBEDzFEovLCuWwpdI7QZ9ZIlVnEnVcAytL 18M9YU96Er9NYuRCpjXDuiLdDiKWIUgdKur18vufllQYcRSpjBLBXQnkaAyrpw6cvI%2B93UEnR78v47CH0s5Nt4. Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms, op. cit. footnote 34, III. B. par 32. ibid, Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms, I. A. par 11. This is done e.g. in Moldova, where Article 31 of the Law on the People's Advocate (Ombudsman) reads: “The resources necessary for the realization of the Council’s duties [as NPM], to contract specialists and experts are included in a separate budget line, part of the budget of the People’s Advocate Office”. 14