At the 1978 Board meeting Co-Chairman Tielman proposed several projects that might be useful in three ways: furthering intrinsical humanist aims, being instrumental in procuring positive publicity, and presenting good perspectives for acquiring external funding. The most illustrious proposal was to create an international humanist ombudsman with whom complaints could be lodged in cases where human rights were violated, in particular human rights of non-religious people or cases which involved the separation of church and state. The ombudsman would then start an investigation and, if appropriate, would take further measures such as legal action to support the victim.

The prospective ombudsman should be an eminent and widely respected international law expert. Ivo Samkalden, a former Dutch Minister of Justice and mayor of Amsterdam, was willing to take up the function, but was not immediately available. He was appointed in 1983, on which occasion his function was renamed Commissioner for Human Rights (CHR). In 1986 Samkalden was succeeded ad interim by former Dutch judge Pieter van Dijk, in 1988 Jan Glastra van Loon, a former Dutch Secretary of State for Justice became CHR.

The Commissioner led an 'Ombudsteam' that had already started work in 1979. It consisted of volunteer legal specialists, who could in turn draw on a network of other experts both in the Netherlands and abroad, for example to get precise information on countries where violations occurred. The team was secretarially supported by a conscientious objector, who fulfilled his military service in this alternative way. The Commissioner and his team closely cooperated with other human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, but tried to concentrate on issues that other organizations did not cover well. The first 'niche' were rights of humanists and other non-believers, or cases where the separation between church and state was at stake. For instance, the Commissioner supported a campaign to separate church and state in Ireland by offering legal advice regarding the lodging of complaints with the European Court at Strasbourg. Further, the Commissioner attended to 'sensitive' kinds of human rights violations that most international organizations shied away from. Examples are conscientious objection, homosexuality, or the right to abortion.