Albania: Comparative Note on Selected Institutional Issues Concerning National Human Rights Institutions

Following a request of the People’s Advocate of the Republic of Albania to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (hereinafter “ODIHR”), ODIHR published the ODIHR Opinion on the Draft Law of Albania on the People’s Advocate on 31 March 2026 (hereafter “the 2026 ODIHR Opinion”). On 13 May 2026, a working meeting was organized between the People’s Advocate of Albania and advisers, and ODIHR to present and discuss the main findings and recommendations from the ODIHR Opinion. The meeting provided an opportunity for the counterparts to raise a number of specific questions and contextual challenges relating to the Albanian legal and institutional framework governing the national human rights institution. On 29 May 2026, as a follow-up to this meeting, the People’s Advocate of the Republic of Albania sent a new request to ODIHR to prepare a supplementary Comparative Note further elaborating on applicable international and regional standards and good domestic practices concerning selected legislative and institutional issues raised during the discussion.

This Note was prepared in response to the above request. ODIHR conducted this assessment within its mandate to assist the OSCE participating States in the implementation of their OSCE human dimension commitments.