The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, has today published his reflections on the White Paper ‘Towards the establishment of the human rights and equality commission’. The Ombudsman described the setting up of another National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) in Malta, as an important instrument that would further consolidate what has been achieved so far in promoting and protecting human rights in the country.

The Ombudsman said that there is general consensus in principle on the way forward and the proposals made in the White Paper are a step in the right direction. However, care should be taken to ensure that existing structures are not weakened or demotivated. It is the opinion of the Ombudsman that any new mechanism needs to take into account the existing legal order. If it is to be effective the Human Rights and Equality Commission (HREC) has to integrate with and complement existing institutions.

On the proposed Equality Act, the Ombudsman said that oversimplification should be avoided at all costs. Allowing for wide areas of interpretation in the hands of judicial or quasi-judicial bodies, and even more in the hands of monitoring authorities, can often lead to conflicts of jurisdiction, counter-productive litigation and contrasting decisions. He recommends that national authorities entrusted with the protection of vulnerable persons or specific human rights are fully consulted when drafting provisions that could affect their functions.

On the proposed Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Ombudsman reiterated that the issue to be debated and determined is whether the suggested model is suitable for Malta’s needs considering its level of democratic development, its observance of human rights generally and the quality and efficacy of its judicial, quasi-judicial and institutional authorities that have a specific or non-specific mandate to promote, monitor and enforce them.

The Ombudsman continued that his Office, that satisfies the stringent criteria of the Paris Principles, is universally recognised as an NHRI and qualifies for accreditation by the International Coordinating Committee on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC). In fact there is no obstacle for the Office of Malta’s Parliamentary Ombudsman to seek ICC recognition on the strength of its conformity to the Paris and indeed the Belgrade Principles as well as its positive record.

In his reflections the Ombudsman made a number of recommendations on how the Human Rights and Equality Commission could be set-up in line with his proposal submitted to Government in October 2013. The Ombudsman had suggested that the NHRI model most suitable for Malta would be a supra-institutional commission on which all major stakeholders would be invited to sit and participate. Such a commission would be able to draw on the experience and expertise of these institutions and others. It would be able to coordinate activities to promote and protect human rights generally and to devise and execute common policies and initiatives.

Reflections on the White Paper ‘Towards the establishment of the human rights and equality commission’

Executive Summary