Requested by: Ombudsman

Recommended Measures:
100. The Venice Commission makes the following key recommendations and notes that further detailed recommendations are to be found in the text of this opinion. • Constitutional guarantees: o establishing the existence, the basic mandate and the basic procedure for the election and dismissal of the Akyikatchy in the Constitution; o clarifying the modalities of interaction between the Akyikatchy Institution and other national human rights mechanisms. • Mandate: o extending the mandate to public administration at all levels and private entities which deliver public services, complainants (for example, whistleblowers), combatting all forms of discrimination, and cooperation with international non-governmental organisations; o confining the mandate to procedural efficiency and administrative functioning of the judiciary, ensuring that the Akyikatchy Institution is not part of the State's foreign policy. • Election and Termination of Powers: o adding “high moral character and integrity” to the eligibility criteria; o softening the requirement as regards expungement/cancellation of criminal record; o providing transparent and detailed selection procedure; a qualified majority for the election and at least 2/3 majority for dismissal; an anti-deadlock mechanism to avoid paralysing the process in Parliament as well as a judicial remedy for challenging the dismissal decision; o providing for a longer and non-renewable term of office. • Immunity: ensuring the same functional immunity for the Akyikatchy staff. • Organisation of the Akyikatchy Institution: o providing for more than two deputies; o clarifying the legal status and mandate of the regional institutions; o providing that the Akyikatchy is able to recruit his or her staff; o specifying that the Akyikatchy Institution shall be consulted during the budget preparation process. • Reporting: specifying that the Akyikatchy cannot be removed from office due to discussions of the content of the annual/special report.

Measures taken: According to the information available, the constitutional law has not yet been adopted.