NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS AS A HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION MECHANISM: THE CASES OF THE OMBUDSMAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUALITY INSTITUTION OF TURKEY Article 19(4) of TIHEK Law requires the submission within thirty days of any information and document requested by the Institution on its own field of examination and research by specifying the reasons therefor while Article 25(3) prescribes an administrative fine of five hundred Turkish Liras to two thousand Turkish Liras for the persons and institutions acting in contravention of this obligation and provides that these administrative fines will be recoursed to public officials. However, amounts of the aforementioned administrative fines are quite low and ineffective. Chairman of the Institution is authorized to appoint the personnel of the Institution as per Article 13(2)(c) of TIHEK Law. In terms of financial independence, it is stated that an equality institution must have an infrastructure allowing for the continuation of its activities in a seamless way and its own personnel and facilities to ensure that it has especially own sufficient financial resources, is independent from the executive body and is not under a financial control mechanism that may influence its independence. An equality institution must have full control over financial issues. A bond to be established with the executive body may make it difficult for the institution to act independently from the executive body. For instance, it is possible for the relevant ministry to have an indirect impact on the activities of an institution to which financial resources are offered under the budget of that ministry. The executive body should not have the authority to decide on the use of the budget, either and, in this regard, the institution must be fully autonomous. Identification of the financial resources of the institution by the legislative body on annual basis is considered as the most appropriate solution.69 It may be recommended that a budget proposal be prepared by the institution and directly submitted to the legislative body. Thus, financial resources will be identified at least on annual basis, which will ensure that the institution will perform its activities. In addition, such assurance enables the institution to perform regular activities within an annual plan. Article 8(1) of TIHEK Law provides that TIHEK is a special-budget institution with financial autonomy. Article 11(ğ) stipulates that a proposal on the budget of the Institution will be prepared by the Board. As Article 116(3) of the Constitution provides that the budget proposal will be drawn up by the President, it seems that the said proposal will be submitted to the President. Therefore, although the budget of the Institution will be set through the budget proposal approved by GNAT, the authority to propose budget acts rests with the President as per the Constitution and thus, it can be said that the budget of the institution will be actually set by the executive body. Budget of the institution is of great importance in terms of employing a sufficient number of personnel and having sufficient premises for the Institution to perform its activities. As stated by the Chairman of the Institution, the Institution does not have sufficient working space, budget and staff.70 The Institution does not have sufficient personnel to fulfill three different duties assumed thereby. As of the end of 2019, the number of staff positions for the Institution is 168 but 50 of these positions are occupied and the number of career experts fulfilling the essential duties of the Institution is just 15. The number of people actually employed in the Institution is a total of 119 persons including 50 permanent staff, 33 temporary staff and 36 workers.71This number rose to 162 as of June 2020.72 69 Murray, p. 368; Smith, p. 922. 70 Journal of Minutes of the Human Rights Examination Committee of GNAT, Period: 26, Year: 3, Meeting 4, April 18, 2020, https:// www.tbmm.gov.tr/develop/owa/komisyon_tutanaklari.goruntule?pTutanakId=2148 (accessed: July 31, 2020). 71 TIHEK, 2020 Performance Program, p. 6, https://tihek.gov.tr/upload/file_editor/2020/02/1581596638.pdf (accessed: July 31, 2020). 72 TIHEK, 2020 Corporate Financial Situation and Expectations Report, p. 4, https://tihek.gov.tr/upload/file_editor/2020/08/1596542711.pdf (accessed: July 31, 2020). 32