Key Messages

• A “national human rights institution” (NHRI) is an institution with a constitutional and/or legislative mandate to protect and promote human rights. When in compliance with the Paris Principles, NHRIs are cornerstones of national human rights protection systems.
• The roles of NHRIs may vary depending on their enabling legislation, but they all have protection and promotion mandates, which are important to ensuring application of international human rights norms on the ground and are crucial to address core protection issues.
• The central responsibility to promote and protect human rights rests with States; establishing NHRIs is an important way of doing this. NHRIs are central elements of national human rights protection systems: they work hand in hand with other parts of the State and with civil society actors.
• NHRIs can provide a central role in building a culture of human rights, while reinforcing the rule of law. They are directly engaged in work related to civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights.
• Many human rights norms have been codified by the United Nations over the past fifty years and given force through a range of covenants, conventions, protocols and other instruments. These human rights norms are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
• Upon ratifying a treaty or convention, States undertake certain legal obligations.
• Many international human rights instruments impose obligations on ratifying States “to take all appropriate measures” to ensure that international human rights are implemented at the national level. The establishment of a national institution is a key mechanism through which States respond to this obligation.
• NHRIs can, through their existing roles and responsibilities, support a human rights-based approach to development.
• The United Nations has an important role in assisting the development of independent and effective NHRIs through both the UNDP and the OHCHR for whom engagement with NHRIs has become a priority area.
• Like NHRIs themselves, UN Country Teams UNCTs also work with many entities – State, civil society, the international community and relevant stakeholders – in order to ensure respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.
• UNCTs need to understand how to raise human rights issues and NHRI issues programmatically, depending on the program cycles and related steps for project development in the UN system.
• The “Paris Principles” (“Principles Relating to the Status and Functioning of National Institutions”) set out basic standards for NHRIs. They require NHRIs to have as broad a mandate as possible in the promotion and protection of human rights.
• The International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs (ICC) coordinates the activities of the NHRI network; the Sub-Committee on Accreditation reviews and analyses accreditation applications according to compliance of applicants with the Paris Principles.