The Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Latvia is an institutionally and functionally independent, wholesome, autonomous subject of public law that ensures the function of Ombudsman within the scope of competence stipulated in the Ombudsman Law and other regulatory acts.

The Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia handles applications on eventual infringements of human rights and on the principle of good governance, and consults individuals on human rights matters. The Ombudsman investigates circumstances of potential infringements of human rights and the principle of good governance. It also reports on the need to institute inspection proceedings at the its initiative in cases of reasonably suspected infringements of human rights and of the principle of good governance.

The Ombudsman’s office also drafts legal opinions, statements or reports on relevant issues in question and drafts recommendations on infringements of human rights or on legislative adoptions and amendments to the Saeima, the Cabinet, municipalities and other institutions. The ombudsman may also draft applications to the Constitutional Court.

Raising public awareness of human rights and the principle of good governance (public relation projects, homepage updates etc.) is also part of the Ombudsman’s mandate. The Ombudsman draws attention to vehicles established to protect human rights by organising educational and informational events and impartial opinion surveys. The Ombudsman also participates in meetings and events organised by other institutions and NGOs in cooperation with Latvian as well as foreign organizations in the field of protection of human rights. The Ombudsman also prepares letters and reports to international institutions.

The Ombudsman actively promotes public awareness on the rights of the child and on their protection mechanisms, by paying attention to the child’s safety in educational institutions, organising seminars for teachers, school directors and other subjects related to the child protection.

The Ombudsman has established working groups to work on specific research or more complex cases and to understand the nature of the problem and find the best solution (for example for research of bilingual education or monitoring of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). These working groups are more like Advisory Councils and participants are generally employees of Ombudsman’s Office and other experts (researchers, representatives of NGO’s etc).