In the limited circumstances where NHRI thematic work on gender has appeared explicitly in SCA reports, it is typically with reference to an NHRI’s positive achievements in advancing the rights of women and girls. For example, in its review of the NHRI of Oman in May 2024, the SCA acknowledged the institution’s ‘recommendations for the State to adhere to international standards’ in its engagement with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.61 At the same session, the SCA recognised that the NHRI of Spain had addressed ‘a wide range of human rights issues such as migrant’s rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, racial discrimination, sexual and gender-based violence and housing’.62 Considering the accreditation of the NHRI of Bahrain in October 2023, the SCA noted that the institution had ‘successfully advocated for legislative changes to allow for Bahraini women to pass on citizenship to their children’.63 There have also been some examples where the SCA has identified concerns with an NHRI’s thematic work on gender. In its June 2021 recommendation to downgrade the NHRI of Hungary to B status, the SCA acknowledged that it had: received information from civil society that the CFR had failed to step up in support of the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. 64 The failure was considered among other issues of performance to have compromised the NHRI’s full compliance with the Paris Principles. In its March 2019 review of the NHRI of Bulgaria, the SCA acknowledged the NHRI’s submission that it: has made various recommendations on the issue of domestic violence, including in relation to the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. It further reports that there has been an inadequate response to these recommendations by relevant State authorities.65 This does not necessarily indicate a concern with the quality of the NHRI’s programming on domestic violence or its advocacy for the adoption of relevant regional human rights instruments, but rather the failure of authorities to adopt recommendations from the NHRI. Concluding remarks The Paris Principles and General Observations offer a framework to define standards for the gender-based governance of NHRIs. In establishing mechanisms to support gender diversity in leadership and staff, these standards offer a pathway for an NHRI to be truly reflective of the population it purports to represent, which will in turn support its effectiveness in practice. Jurisprudence at the SCA also reveals a focus on gender equality in the application of the Paris Principles framework in the accreditation of NHRIs. Despite the limited express reference in the Paris Principles themselves to gender or the rights of women and girls, the application of the pluralism requirements of the Paris Principles has had the effect of strengthening gender representation on NHRIs. This paper has also revealed that the Paris Principles, General Observations, and reported SCA jurisprudence collectively provide very limited guidance for NHRIs on the performance of their mandate in relation to gender and the rights of women and girls. This is symptomatic of a broader 61 May 2024 SCA Report (n 15) 49-50 (Oman). Ibid 35 (Spain). 63 October 2023 SCA Report (n 55) 35 (Bahrain). 64 Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, Subcommittee on Accreditation, Report and Recommendations of the Virtual Session of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation, Online, 14-24 June 2021 <https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/NHRI/GANHRI/EN-SCA-Report-June-2021.pdf> (‘June 2021 SCA Report’) 13 (Hungary). 65 March 2019 SCA Report (n 27) 17 (Bulgaria). 62 12 Gender Equality and the Paris Principles