Ombudsman jako národní lidskoprávní instituce: Jak sladit rozličné lidskoprávní působnosti a naplnit požadavek plurality?
Ombudsman as a National Human Rights Institution: How to Harmonize Different Human Rights Competencies and Meet the Requirement of Pluralism?

Summary/Abstract: National human rights institutions are nowadays important players in the protection and promotion of human rights. Although they were established in 120 countries around the globe and almost all countries in the European Union, such an institution is still missing in the Czech Republic. This article aims to examine the possibility of creating this human rights “watchdog” on the platform of the institution of public defender of rights (ombudsman). This solution is repeatedly supported in the expert debate in the Czech Republic. To make a critical assessment of this model, several questions arise. These relate to the issue of the traditional role of the ombudsman and the single-headed leadership of the institution. Could the institution represented by a single ombudsman be expected to meet the requirement of plurality which is characteristic of the national human rights institution? And does the Czech ombudsman manage to align its traditional role of “defender against authorities” with the plethora of human rights competencies that it already has?

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