Diritti fondamentali e stato costituzionale di diritto. l’esperienza del defensor del pueblo in Spagna

Despite efforts across the last two legislative terms, Italy still lacks a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI). In this context, an examination of the Spanish Defensor del Pueblo – its origins and practice – yields instructive insights, especially from a de jure condendo standpoint. Accordingly, the article analyses the Defensor del Pueblo as both a human rights ombudsman and an NHRI to illuminate the evolving configuration of NHRIs in contemporary constitutional democracies. In particular, the institution’s legal character and specific competences prompt a reconsideration of the constitutional standing of national institutions as organs of constitutional guarantee, aimed at strengthening the mechanisms for the protection and promotion of fundamental rights and, thereby, the constitutional rule of law.