2.3 NHRIs vs. Classic Ombudsman Offices

There should be no confusion between a “classic” ombudsman and a NHRI. “Classic” ombudsman offices, such as the Danish Ombudsman Office, deal only with maladministration and citizen’s complaints against government.3 Ombudsman offices that deal only with citizen complaints about maladministration, without an express mandate to address human rights matters, are not NHRIs, even though human rights issues may be the underlying issue at stake. That said, some Ombudsman offices take the position that they can handle human rights matters in practice, even if human rights institutions exist separately in the same country. In such cases, the institutions should be encouraged to work together in a complementary fashion and develop a memorandum of understanding or other working relationships to avoid duplication or confusion.

3 Historically, the Ombudsman style of institution emerged in countries like Sweden, and was structured to offer citizens recourse against the government and public administration. The Danish Ombudsman, for example, has general jurisdiction over the public administration, but the law makes no reference to human rights issues in its enabling legislation. That does not mean that human rights issues are excluded, just that this is not the specific focus of its work.