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during the Kosovo conflict, the unsuccessful Rambouillet peace proposal sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) included the establishment of a human rights ombudsman. After the NATO bombing campaign, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorized the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo to promote self-government in Kosovo, taking into account the Rambouillet proposal (Reif 2000). Similarly, the 1999 Lomé Peace Agreement between parties to the Sierra Leone conflict provided for the establishment of a human rights commission and a truth and reconciliation commission, and the UN Mission in East Timor was authorized by the United Nations Security Council to develop local democratic institutions, including an East Timorese human rights institution (Reif 2000). Furthermore, the 2001 Bonn Agreement that came into effect after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan placed a specific obligation on the interim administration to establish an independent human rights commission.7 For a national human rights institution to meet its potential as an accountability institution and contribute to peacebuilding, it has to be able to operate autonomously, separate from all branches of government, and in particular be independent of the executive branch (UNGA 1993). Guaranteed independence enables the institution to scrutinize the government’s activities without fear of interference or reprisal. Although self-governing, a national human rights institution should be required to table its annual report in parliament and to have its activities generally overseen by parliament (Centre for Human Rights 1995). However, to support the institution’s work, parliament should ensure that members of human rights institutions have security of tenure and, through the budget review process, should ensure that the institution has adequate ongoing financial resources. Establishment and Evaluation of Autonomous Institutions of Accountability Autonomous agents of accountability, such as those outlined above, usually cannot be created without the agreement of government and parliament. The government must possess the requisite political will, and parliament has to work for the passage of supporting legislation to ensure the successful creation of such institutions. However, governments are not always eager to form institutions designed to limit their freedom to act. As has been illustrated, autonomous agents of accountability are able to force the government, either by using coercive powers or by shedding light on embarrassing situations, to curb or alter government activity. Schacter (2005) notes that it is not in the interests of the government or public officials to establish these institutions, so clear public demand is necessary. Parliamentarians have a role to play in fostering such public demand, by presenting community demands to the government and by promoting the introduction of legislation establishing such institutions. In the consideration of prospective legislation to establish autonomous institutions of accountability, best practice suggests that parliament should facilitate civil society’s formal participation in these institutions. Civil society groups have traditionally been agents of vertical accountability; however, a recent trend has been to include civil society in horizontal accountability structures as well. This hybrid 7. Section III (c)(6): Bonn Agreement, at http://www.afghangovernment.com/Afghan AgreementBonn.htm.