1.3. Introducing the Paris Principles
The 1991 “Paris Principles” (“Principles Relating to the Status and Functioning of National Institutions”) set out the basic international standards for NHRIs and mark the beginning of standardisation of norms for NHRIs. They were adopted by a group of NHRIs at an international workshop and were later endorsed by the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly. A NHRI which complies with the Principles is eligible to be accredited by the Sub-Committee of the ICC.
A brief history
In 1991, the UN Centre for Human Rights (now the OHCHR) convened a conference of national human rights institutions to define common attributes that NHRIs should possess. The meeting produced a set of standards. Because that meeting was held in Paris, these standards came to be known more simply as the “Paris Principles”.
The Paris Principles have become part of the human rights lexicon. The Vienna Declaration qualified any mention of national institutions with the phrase “established in conformity with the Paris Principles”. The Paris Principles were endorsed by a UN General Assembly Resolution in 199318 and today are broadly accepted as the test of an institution’s legitimacy and credibility vis-à-vis international standards. A NHRI that fails to meet these standards may still be a legal institution in the national context, but it will have failed to comply with international norms.