25. Returning to the provisions of Law No. (26) of 2014, it is noticed that Article (2) of the Law grants the NIHR a broad mandate in the area of human rights stipulating that “An independent Institution shall be established named the “National Institution for Human Rights” responsible for promoting, developing and protecting human rights, consolidating its values, disseminating awareness of these rights, and contributing to securing the exercise of such rights; the Institution’s headquarters shall be located in the city of Manama. Its building shall be accessible to persons with disabilities. The Institution shall have a legal corporate personality that is financially and administratively independent, and shall conduct its functions freely, neutrality and independently.” 26. In addition to the provisions of Article (12) of the same Law, which grants the NIHR, in order to achieve its objectives, the freedom to comment on any issue pertaining to human rights and to address any human rights case as it deems appropriate, the NIHR enjoys the following competencies: • P articipate in developing and implementing a national plan to promote and protect human rights in the Kingdom. • E  xamine human rights legislation and regulations in force in the Kingdom, recommend amendments that it deems appropriate, in particular with regard to the consistency of such legislation with the international obligations of the Kingdom in the area of human rights, and recommend issuing new legislation related to human rights. • R eview the compatibility of legislation and regulations with regional and international treaties related to human rights issues, and make proposals and recommendations to the competent authorities in any matter that promotes and protects human rights, including on accession to regional and international conventions and treaties concerning human rights. • S  ubmit parallel reports, participate in the drafting and discussion of the reports, which the Kingdom undertakes to submit periodically in the application of regional and international conventions concerning human rights, make comments thereon, and publish such reports in the media outlets. • M  onitor cases of human rights violations, conduct the necessary investigation, draw the attention of the competent authorities to such violations, provide proposals on initiatives aiming to put an end to such violations, and, if necessary, pronounce on the attitude and reactions of those entities. • R eceive, examine, and consider human rights complaints, and refer them, as the NIHR deems appropriate, to the competent authorities; follow-up such complaints effectively, or advise those concerned on the procedures to be followed, assist them in doing so, or help to resolve complaints with the authorities concerned. 19