A Manual on National Human Rights Institutions governmental and non-governmental. They comply with the international minimum standards for NHRIs, the Paris Principles.36 2.2. NHRIs ARE STATE INSTITUTIONS, NOT NGOs As State institutions, part of the official governance structure of the State, NHRIs are fundamentally different from NGOs. As State institutions, NHRIs have strengths that NGOs do not have. • They have greater authority than NGOs, deriving from their official status. This gives them potentially more influence in domestic and international forums. Their opinions and findings can have greater credibility and their recommendations greater influence. • They have stronger investigative powers than NGOs, usually including the powers to obtain documents, summon witnesses and enter premises, such as prisons and detention centres. • They often have greater resources than NGOs, being funded under the State budget and often also receiving grants from international donors and philanthropic foundations. However, NHRIs also experience limitations that NGOs do not have. NGOs are formed by their members and can do whatever their members decide they should do. Although NGOs are restricted by their constitutions, their members control the constitutions.37 Members have the right and the power to amend an NGO’s constitution if they want it to do different things or additional things. NGOs therefore are under the control of their members and have the freedom to do whatever their members want them to do, provided it is within the law of the States in which they are established. NHRIs do not have the freedom that NGOs enjoy. They are subject to the constitution and law of their States. An NHRI can do only what the constitution or its establishing law permits it to do. Constitutions are subject to specific processes for adoption and amendment and laws are made by parliaments. NHRIs have no control over these processes. They are not only established by law but also restricted by law. They can speak and act only within the limits of the law that establishes them. Both the strengths of NHRIs and the limits within which they work are the products of their status as State institutions. 2.3. NHRIs ARE UNIQUE STATE INSTITUTIONS NHRIs have unique roles among State institutions. They are not the only State institutions with human rights responsibilities; parliaments, governments and courts also have essential roles in the promotion and protection of human rights. However, NHRIs are established for the specific purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and, in performing that role, they are required to act independently of all external direction or influence, except from directions of the courts relating to the interpretation and observance of the law. NHRIs do not make laws. They have no legislative role. That is the role of parliaments. They can advise the parliament on laws and regulations, such as proposing the enactment of new laws or the amendment or repeal of existing laws. They can also advise the parliament on human rights issues, including cases and patterns of human rights violations. In these ways, they assist the parliament in the performance of its legislative, oversight and accountability responsibilities. Enacting good laws, such as bills or charters of rights, is essential for the promotion and protection of human rights, but it is not enough. No matter how good they are, laws that are not implemented and 12 36 Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions; Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/54 and General Assembly resolution 48/134. 37 NGO constitutions can have various names, including articles of association, rules or statutes. The term “constitution” is used generically here to refer to all the founding or establishing documents of NGOs, however they may be formally named.