3.3 Advising State Institutions (Executive, Parliament, Judiciary)
According to the Paris Principles, NHRIs have a general responsibility to advise Government, Parliament and any other competent bodies on human rights matters. Such reports and advice are a valuable source of information for UNCT staff and provide a vital and current source of policy and legal information on a range of human rights issues. NHRIs can foster dialogue and facilitate collaboration and cooperation with all branches of government, executive, legislative and judiciary: these are all important in creating a strong legal framework and a culture of human rights in the country.
The 2004 Abuja Guidelines (w) show how some of these complex relationships are articulated in the context of Commonwealth countries with respect to NHRIs and Parliament:
Abuja Guidelines
At a 2004 meeting in Nigeria, representatives of national human rights institutions and of parliaments from the Commonwealth … adopted Guidelines (the Abuja Guidelines) for developing an effective relationship between parliaments, parliamentarians and NHRIs for the promotion and protection of human rights.
Specifically, parliaments should produce an appropriate legislative framework for the establishment of NHRIs; ensure that NHRIs have adequate resources; debate reports of NHRIs in parliament and ensure that recommendations for action from NHRIs are followed-up and implemented; and establish an all-party parliamentary committee for overseeing and supporting the work of NHRIs. Parliamentarians should ensure that their constituents are made aware of the work of NHRIs.
For their part, Human Rights Commissions should provide parliamentarians with regular expertise and independent advice on national, regional and international human rights issues; provide on-going training for parliamentarians on human rights; advise parliamentarians on the human rights implications of all proposed legislation and constitutional amendments as well as of existing laws; and advise parliaments on the creation of parliamentary human rights committees.
Advising government can include:
- Developing and conducting programmes to systematically review existing legislation as well as proposed legislation to ensure compatibility with human rights norms.
- Communicating findings and conclusions drawn from day-to-day work. The findings and results can be communicated to the State through reports, good offices interventions and other formal or informal channels.
For example:
- An investigation may lead an NHRI to recommend a particular action to redress a violation or to avert further violations; or
- A research study may show that action is required to strengthen human rights efforts in particular areas, or monitoring may reveal that national standards are being misapplied locally and that better control mechanisms are required.
The Paris Principles also specifically require institutions to promote the adoption of laws that will incorporate or “transform” international norms into domestic law. In this regard, NHRIs will generally have the responsibility to:
- Promote and ensure the harmonisation of national legislation, regulations and practice with the international instruments to which the State is a party;
- Encourage ratification of human rights treaties;
- Contribute to the reports which States are required to submit to UN mechanisms (treaty bodies, special procedures and UPR), or to regional bodies; and
- Encourage the removal of reservations, if any.
Their goal, in short, is to ensure that internationally recognised rights find a home within national legislation, regulation and practice.