On 10 and 12 March, Deputy Ombudsman Miha Horvat and Jerneja Turin, advisor-analyst of the Human Rights Centre, as representatives of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman), were in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), which has around 118 members from all over the world. The Ombudsman was previously a member of it, but 2020 was historic because it was then that the (final) key actions of the approximately three-year-long efforts to obtain A status under the so-called Paris Principles on the Status of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) took place. After a successful oral defence before the GANHRI accreditation subcommittee on 10 December 2020, which was conducted by the aforementioned Deputy Ombudsman, the Ombudsman managed to obtain A status for the first time at the beginning of 2021, making the country the first (and still only) national institution to be so accredited. The Ombudsman has thus also gained full rights in international associations such as GANHRI and ENNHRI (European Association of National Human Rights Institutions) and greater opportunities for cooperation within the framework of the United Nations and at the regional level. 
 

During the reporting and discussions at this year's GANHRI annual meeting, it was repeatedly highlighted that the role of NHRIs is also critical in the current changes on the global stage, but at the same time they are themselves subject to new challenges. In this regard, for example, issues such as undermining the rule of law, the inclusion of artificial intelligence in the framework of human rights and human rights in the armed forces were highlighted, and a special topic on the agenda was the human rights of women and girls in particular. The report on the European region was presented by the regional chair, Ms Louise Holck, a representative of the Danish NHRI, while Jerneja Turin, as chair of the ENNHRI working group on the rights of persons with disabilities presented her experiences with the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.

The agenda also included the accreditation procedure and accreditation of national institutions with statuses according to the so-called Paris Principles by the GANHRI Accreditation Subcommittee, which is particularly important for the Ombudsman this year, as it will soon have to apply for re-accreditation with status A. To this end, it will be necessary to demonstrate, in a reasoned manner and supported by documentation, how the institution has achieved the standards of status A according to the so-called Paris Principles in the past five years, with the aforementioned subcommittee expecting institutions with already granted status A, and therefore also the Ombudsman, to demonstrate further strengthening of their efficiency and independence before re-accreditation

As an interesting fact in the context of the European space, it should be noted that the Swedish national human rights institution first acquired A status in 2024, in Iceland, after the relevant legislative changes, the national human rights institution began operating in the new year, and in the Czech Republic, the legal basis has already been adopted and the national human rights institution is expected to be established on this basis. Italy and Malta are examples of countries in the European Union where such an institution has not yet been established or accredited.