A/HRC/42/38/Add.1 human rights protection. At the time of the visit the discussion on the reform of Commission was ongoing. 20. The office of the Ombudsperson (Provedor de Justiça) was created, through a 1999 Constitutional amendment, as an independent institution and with powers to receive complaints regarding acts or omissions of public officials, and to make recommendations to the competent organs; the Ombudsperson is elected by the National Assembly (arts. 21 and 253 of the Constitution). The current Ombudsperson, António do Espírito Santo Fonseca, took office in December 2013. The revised statute of the Ombudsperson’s Office was adopted in February 2014 (Decree-Law No. 10/2014), and the Office currently employs 12 staff. The mandate of the Ombudsperson, as set out in the Constitution, includes: serving as a member of the Council of the Republic (art. 253); requesting the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality and legality of regulations or resolutions (art. 280); and making his or her recommendations public (art. 21). The statute of the office also provides the Ombudsperson with a mandate to: promote the rights and freedoms of citizens; make recommendations to the competent bodies for the amendment of administrative acts and improvement of administrative services; make recommendations for the interpretation, amendment or repeal of legislative provisions, and propose new legislation; intervene in accordance with applicable law for the protection of collective rights and interests; and issue an opinion, upon a request of the National Assembly, on any matter related to the activity of the Assembly. The Ombudsperson may visit, with or without notice, any government institution or public company, examine documents, interview officials and request information. The Ombudsperson’s Office, however, has limited human resources and, accordingly, limited opportunity to reach rural and remote communities, especially taking into consideration the geographic challenges of Cabo Verde. 21. From the standpoint of the right to development, domestic human rights institutions have a dual role. They can provide an avenue for accountability, if they have a mandate to take up individual or collective complaints related to the fulfilment of economic and social rights or issues related to access to information or discrimination in the context of development programmes or projects. They can also use their monitoring functions to assess participation and inclusiveness mechanisms put in place by the State authorities and bring to the attention of the legislature and the executive recommendations to adopt measures to ensure that every person is entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development. In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, both the Ombudsperson’s Office and the National Commission for Human Rights and Citizenship are well placed to perform such functions in Cabo Verde and thus to contribute to the implementation of the right to development and to the sustainable development process in the country. IV. Selected areas of development and the right to development A. International cooperation 22. The Special Rapporteur learned that, in June 2015, the Government of Cabo Verde, in partnership with the United Nations, had convened an international conference entitled: “Sustainable Development Goals in Middle-Income and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”. The event contributed to the global discussions on the specific needs of small island developing States in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the initiatives of the Government to promote South-South cooperation. He commends in particular its efforts to formalize and enhance the actions of the small African island States within the African Union and in other regional and international forums. 23. During the visit, the Special Rapporteur was informed that the Government was organizing an international conference, entitled “Building New Partnerships for Sustainable Development in Cabo Verde”. The Conference, held in Paris on 11 and 12 December 2018, was aimed at presenting to the international community the Government’s plans for development and investment opportunities to encourage foreign investment and 6